The Store Selected as the 2027 Moosic City Dairy Dash Beneficiary

I didn't expect to get emotional at a 5K celebration yesterday morning (and I wasn’t the only one).

The Moosic City Dairy Dash, hosted by Purity Dairies, has been raising money for Nashville nonprofits for a quarter-century. Each year, they honor a different organization. Nearly two million dollars raised over 25 years.

This year’s celebration honored Friends Life Community, a Nashville nonprofit doing extraordinary work alongside teenagers and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Sitting with them yesterday and hearing their story told with such care by the Dairy Dash community was its own kind of gift.What struck me most was the consistency of the people in the room. Compassionate, energetic people, many of whom have been friends and colleagues for all 25 years.

And then they shared who would be honored next year. The Store.

I sat there trying to take in what that meant. A community of people who have spent 25 years choosing whom to lift up had decided to lift us.

The Dairy Dash wraps each nonprofit they choose in a full year of warmth, encouragement, and hospitality. Sitting in that yesterday, it was hard not to feel the weight of what they’ve built together.I’m not someone who gets emotional easily in professional settings.

I was yesterday.

To Purity Dairies, and to everyone who has run, walked, sponsored, and shown up year after year: thank you for this legacy.

And to Friends Life Community, congratulations and thank you for your partnership. We’ll do our best to honor what you’ve built.