A new branch of The Mango Tree will soon bear fruit, opening a new frozen yogurt for good store in Oskaloosa, IA. The store will be located at 1107 A Avenue West, at the corner of North J Street. Owned by the non-profit Many Hands for Haiti, 100% of the profits go to support local and global missions. The five local organizations that will receive 2015 support from sales at the store are Ecumenical Food Cupboard, Love INC., Crisis Intervention Services, New Hope Community, and Habitat for Humanity of Mahaska County.

“With all the involvement we have seen from the Oskaloosa community, we are excited to get this store open. We believe this is a God-driven project for the community, helping so many people in our backyard and those in Haiti. It is really a win/win all the way around,” comments Tim Brand, President of The Mango Tree and Executive Leader of Many Hands for Haiti.

After successfully opening the Pella Mango Tree in April 2014, the organization felt encouraged to pursue another community in the area. After many conversations, the leadership and community support in Oskaloosa was the deciding factor to open the next store in Oskaloosa.

The Mango Tree delivers high-quality frozen yogurt, in a “choose your own flavors and toppings” type of style. In this store, there will be 15 unique flavors of frozen-yogurt, with 40 different toppings such as hot fudge, Dutch letters, fresh cut strawberries, and candy. Guests self-serve the frozen yogurt and toppings and weigh their cup at the end for the price. The cost is $0.40 an ounce, below the national average for frozen yogurt.

The bar has over 40 toppings for customers to choose, including candy, dutch letters, hot fudge, fresh fruit, and nuts.

To help deliver the most money as possible to the five local organizations and Many Hands for Haiti, the store is primarily run by volunteers. Liz Clarke is the store manager for both Pella and Oskaloosa locations, and Alice Van Wyk is her assistant manager in Oskaloosa. The rest of the staff is volunteers from the community.

“We’ve seen such a positive response from the community! As the store will be run on volunteers, it was a big step of faith for us, trusting there would be interest. The Oskaloosa community has blown us away with the giving of their time, energy, and effort to make this project a reality!”” says Clarke.

All the wood in the store is made with recycled barn wood. This door was preserved from an old barn. Just as God does, we love to take old things and make them new.

The opening date is Tuesday, June 9th. Store hours are Tuesday – Thursday 2:00 PM – 10:00 PM, Friday – Saturday 2:00 PM – 11:00 PM, Sunday 3:00 – 9:00 PM, and Monday is closed for us to have a Sabbath.

The store still needs more volunteers to help make this possible. If interested in volunteering, please send an email to [email protected]. To keep up with the latest news, like it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MangoTreeFroYo.