MILWAUKEE — With thousands of people losing power around Milwaukee, it meant that, among many things, food in fridges and freezers was going bad. However, one local popsicle business wanted to make sure it could help prevent that from happening as much as possible.
“We stock probably more dry ice than anyone else around. We get our deliveries on Wednesdays, so we got a brand new delivery this morning," Pete Cooney, the owner of Pete's Pops, said.
With that fresh delivery of dry ice, Cooney went on social media saying anyone who lost power could come to his store at 3809 W Vliet St. to get some free dry ice for their fridges and freezers.
“It just seemed like kind of an easy, no brainer thing," he said.
Slowly but surely people started arriving.
“I think it’s amazing. I think that this is what our community needs," Elizabeth Stieber said.
Stieber's power went out when the storms began Tuesday night. This was a huge relief for her.
“I’m just hoping that it will be able to salvage some food so there is less food waste," she said.
According to the We Energies Power Outage map, more than 106,000 customers were without power throughout the state as of 3 p.m.
In a press conference Tuesday morning, We Energies said it anticipated restoration efforts would last for multiple days.
With temperatures climbing into the 90s and another severe storm potentially on the way Wednesday night, it was even more important to have this resource available for anyone.
“Well, our power's been off since 10 last night, and I started to get a little worried about the food in the freezer," Jason Capriotti said. His power also went out Tuesday night.
The dry ice is nice, but it also speaks to something great. It’s a reassuring sign that our neighbors have our backs to help us out when we are in need.
If power isn’t restored to people's homes, Pete’s Pops will still be there handing out free dry ice.
“As long as it’s needed, we can always call our dry ice supplier up the road, and they can bring us more.”
