Save the date for a childhood cancer event, that started in Minnesota.

Virtual Event, February 18, 2024 (based out of Scandia, MN)

To join us – like and follow the Facebook Page!

Overview

Since 2013, the annual Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day has been bringing fun into the lives of children fighting childhood cancer and awareness the general public through this online, virtual, free annual event.

Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day honors all children who have fought or who are fighting a battle with cancer, because kids get cancer too.⁠

We invite people to post a selfie of yourself enjoying ice cream for breakfast on February 18 to one of our social media platforms, tag #kidsgetcancertoo and then hang around and hear stories of kids who have or are currently fighting cancer.

Our little MN event is now celebrated in over 83 counties and has received international press.

Boilerplate + About us

Malia Grace Peterson is the inspiration for this event.  She was born on February 18, 2001 and left this earth for the joy of heaven while sleeping on December 7, 2010, after a 14-month long battle with childhood cancer. The 9 years in between those dates was a lifetime in which she touched countless lives with her energy, humor, laughter and hugs.

Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day falls on Malia’s birthday and is run by her Mom and Aunt. We do what we do for the love of Malia. 

What started out as a birthday celebration for one loved girl, has turned into a day that many amazing families claim as their own. This worldwide day of encouragement means SO much to SO many, and we are delighted at all this day has become.

Because of Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, kids all over the world, and their families, feel loved, supported, and seen. That is why we do what we do, Simple. Special. Sweet.

With your help, our mission to support the fighting, remember the resting and party on with the survivors, can be amplified to reach more children, families and bring more humanity to the world of childhood cancer.

Graphics, Quotes + More

• Graphics, videos, childhood cancer statistics: https://eaticecreamforbreakfastday.com/contact/
• Quotes: https://eaticecreamforbreakfastday.com/history/
• More about Malia: https://eaticecreamforbreakfastday.com/malia/

Contact information

• Alisa Matheson
• Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day
• eaticecreamforbreakfast@gmail.com

Thank you!!!!

THANK YOU for being a part of encouraging those whose lives have been impacted by childhood cancer by participating in Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. These families need it more than there are words to describe, and having their fight acknowledged, even in this small and silly way, means a lot to them!

To those of you who went above and beyond by using this event as a platform for fundraising to help in a tangible way, we are so grateful! That is something we did not anticipate when we started this crazy party and it brings tears to our eyes to see how your heart’s generosity is making a difference worldwide! We heard stories of you helping individual families, funding cancer research for kids, gifting wish organizations, bolstering child life programs and bringing ice cream smiles into inpatient pediatric oncology units.

This day is both wonderful and difficult for most childhood cancer families… the emotions surrounding their kid’s circumstances are complex, but our sincere prayer is that it brought a little light into their dark places and some smiles to them for a day.

We also hope that this event was a day that created some sweet memories for YOU and whoever you were with!

See you again next year…. Feb 18th, 2024!

With much love from your Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Hosts,

Malia’s family #EatIceCreamForBreaskfastDay#kidsgetcancertoo

In-Person Events

All had a slightly different theme, but ALL were focused on childhood cancer, and raising awareness, gratefulness, and community.

• Florida
• Minnesota – Scandia
• Minnesota – Forest Lake + Lindstrom
• Washington
• North Carolina
• Maryland
• Queensland, Australia
• Michigan
• New Zealand

News/Articles

• https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/eat-ice-cream-for-breakfast-day/3161026/
• Cheekeehero.com

Featured Kids

Thank you!

From your hosts of this day of encouragement, we simply want to say THANK YOU.

To the amazing kids and families who have shared a piece of their story with us today: we pray that you felt: Seen. Encouraged. Loved. Remembered. We know how hard and long the journey feels. You are not alone. We hope in this crazy day you found reasons to SMILE! The JOY is our why!

To those who showed up as an encourager we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

It seems like such a little thing, eating ice cream for breakfast. Clicking on a like or love button. Posting a photo. On the surface it can feel silly and superficial; but I promise you that to the families you supported today… it didn’t feel that way. Actions don’t have to be something grand to make a difference in their world. They just need to know they are not forgotten. Small acts done with great love matter to them. A card in the mail, A message or text. An unexpected hug. Chocolates left on a doorstep. A shoveled walk. A hot meal. A funny joke. A shared song.

To those who go above and beyond… you are our heroes. Children’s Oncology Programs, Doctors, Nurses, CNA’s, Child Life Specialists, Social Workers, PT, OT, Wish Organizations, Childhood Cancer Foundations, Childhood Cancer Researchers, Childhood Cancer Support Groups, Awareness Groups, and individuals who volunteer their time, talents and treasures in support. Your knowledge, passion, purpose and care is so needed! God bless you all as you press in and press on to improve outcomes and experiences for these little warriors.

Finally, Happy 21st birthday, Malia. Thank you for teaching us to find JOY in all things! Hugs from us to you in heaven.

Events

• Everyone is invited to join us ONLINE on our FACEBOOK PAGE for updates throughout Feb 17 + 18th (timezones are fun)! Eat your ice cream, share a picture and stick around to encourage childhood cancer kids and their families!
  Kelly’s Homemade Ice Cream, with five locations in Orlando, OVIEDO and WINDERMERE Florida has created some amazing ice cream flavors in honor of Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast day with 50% of each pint going to benefit Give Kids The World, an amazing organization in central Florida, USA.
• A Virtual event by The Microvolunteering Collective out of New Zealand is hosting an live event learning about childhood cancer, featuring our own Annette Peterson (Malia’s Mom). They will also be creating Love Letters for kids (a letter placard which child cancer patients and other children in hospital can use to brighten the walls of their room).
• Relay For Life of Tacoma and the American Cancer Society are hosting an in person event in Tacoma, Washington on February 19! With 50% of all sales 9AM-Noon going back to Relay For Life of Tacoma and the American Cancer Society!
• Do you know of another in person or virtual event?! Let us know!

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News Coverage + Articles

• Will update as they happen.
• Did you see a story we don’t have listed yet? Let us know!

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2022 Featured Kids!

This year our featured kids hail from three different nations, Canada, New Zealand and Australia!

Dear friends, that’s a wrap on another beautiful year of: SUPPORTING the fighting REMEMBERING the resting and PARTYING ON with the survivors of childhood cancer.

Our Facebook Page is really just a launching point. The majority of what is happening out there in the world cannot be seen on this page, but rather is personal support going directly to the kids and families who need it most through their own social media platforms.

We had a record number of prominent childhood cancer organizations sharing this day with all their kids this year, and public media platforms inviting the masses to join this party. We also had news coverage from Hawaii and posts in German and Swedish (see below).

No matter how you engaged in this day, we want to thank you for joining with us in the encouragement and support.

These kids everywhere around the world with cancer, their parents, and their siblings desperately need to be seen and have their story known. Thank you for letting them know they are not alone, and for bringing your light into the dark parts of their lives. Showing up by EATING ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST my seem like a small thing, but it’s truly impactful to those on the receiving end.

Until next year, please continue to participate in acts of kindness and encouragement for all those directly affected by childhood cancer. The effects of their experiences last long past the time when treatments end. God bless you all. Go shine bright in the world! Happy birthday, Malia Grace.

All our love, Mom, Dad, Madi, Marissa, Auntie Alisa & Rosie

LIKE our Facebook Page to stay in the know all year long and see you next February 18!

Some Highlights from the Day

Childhood Cancer Research Fund Blog Post: “We interviewed Alisa, Malia’s aunt, about Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day’s mission and her niece’s legacy. Alisa describes her niece, Malia, as a “firecracker” who loved her friends and family fiercely, and continued playing soccer even during chemotherapy to treat her Wilms tumor. When the 9-year-old from Forrest Lake, Minnesota passed away in 2010, it was her determination and her boundless love for life that her family wanted to remember most. They remembered one day during Malia’s Make-A-Wish trip when they threw convention to the wind and ate ice cream for breakfast. So in Malia’s honor, her family started “Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day” on Malia’s birthday to raise awareness of childhood cancer and celebrate her life.” Read more

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WAKE UP 2DAY, HONOLULU HAWAII: Posted: Feb 18, 2021 / 06:00 AM HST / Updated: Feb 18, 2021 / 06:00 AM HONOLULU (KHON2) — Social Scene: Ice cream for breakfast: If you feel like eating ice cream for breakfast this morning, go for it!

https://www.khon2.com/wake-up-2day/social-scene-ice-cream-for-breakfast/

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A post shared by Sly James The Cat (@slyjamesthecat)

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CLbZkRlHgwR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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A post shared by Toll Betreuung und Pflege (@toll_betreuung_und_pflege)

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A post shared by #FightLikeJasper (@jaspersgreymatters)

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February 18th was a day filled up with great kids and yummy ice cream beyond words. Wasn’t it an incredible experience? We pray it touched you in deep places and moved your heart. As we managed each picture that came in today we celebrated, smiled, laughed, cried ugly tears, and ate way too much ice cream. Our fingers are numb and our bums are sore, and our hearts are very, very full.

We are thankful for all 75 AMAZING KIDS (including our nine featured kids) and their warrior families who let us get a glimpse into their cancer experience and their beautiful hearts. Because of your involvement the world is hearing the message that kids get cancer too. Thanks to all of you for eating ice cream to encourage them and help infuse some smiles into their stories. Eating Ice Cream for Breakfast may not cure cancer or change the world, but it does give us all a reason to have a little fun together, to share some compassion and to inspire people into action. Having the fight of our children acknowledged and the grief and struggle seen means so much. For every picture you posted, comment you left and “like” you clicked you gave us some much needed encouragement. Thank you so much… for all of it!

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Lastly a huge THANK YOU to Malia’s auntie Alisa for bringing this all together into what it has become. She handles all the technical stuff, and does it with much passion and great love, on a budget of zero and very little sleep. My husband and I act as support staff, and are so proud of what Malia’s original little birthday party has become. We do it all for you and you do it for us, and we all get to know some really incredible kids through it all. Hope you join us again next year! Same day. Same place. God bless.

~Malia’s Family

2016 News Coverage of EICFBD

One highlight from this year was seeing our day covered in this newspaper from Nambia and having Kevin Bacon eat with us for the second year!

MSN & WCCO – Forest Lake Family’s ‘Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day’ Honors Daughter.  This morning we are giving you permission to eat ice cream for breakfast. It’s part of a social media campaign started by a Forest Lake family who lost their daughter to cancer… and wants other families facing childhood cancer to know they’re not alone. (3:31) WCCO This Morning – Feb. 18, 2016

WKRN – PLEASANT VIEW, Tenn. (WKRN) — Pleasant View’s newest ice cream and coffee shop, Golly G’s, celebrated National Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day on Thursday. The store offered scoops for 50 percent off and held a social for children stricken by cancer.

Middays with Michelle – “International Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day” to show support for kids with cancer.

WJON – SAUK RAPIDS — They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and today (Thursday) at Sauk Rapids-Rice high school it was served in a different way.  Several students and the Tanner’s Team Foundation teamed up to serve over 900 students Ice Cream in honor of International Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day.

Eating #icecreamforbreakfastday to call attention to #kidsgetcancertoo @alicialewisKARE @svensundgaard @CoryHepola pic.twitter.com/MNK0Nq3nDe — Kim Insley (@KimInsley) February 18, 2016

Nat’l Eat Ice Cream for breakfast day to help kids fight cancer. Win!#kidsgetcancertoo #eaticecreamforbreakfastday pic.twitter.com/OqcfN57X1H — Kim Insley (@KimInsley) February 18, 2016

National #icecreamforbreakfast Day! #kidsgetcancertoo @realmilwaukee pic.twitter.com/mJjSkkaKHW — Angelica Duria (@angelicaduria) February 18, 2016

Today we marked #IceCreamForBreakfast Day on @News3ThisAm. @eaticecreamday https://t.co/YtiKKAFFsE pic.twitter.com/1kYYViG3N5 — Kevin Hunsperger (@kevinhunsperger) February 18, 2016

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2016 Promo Materials

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I’m not sure I have words to express what this day has meant to all of us as the kids and families who have had childhood cancer turn our worlds inside out and upside down. Childhood cancer tries to take so much away from us: faith, peace, stability, security, community, joy, and sometimes even our kids themselves.

But today each of you surrounded us with a united hug that reached all the way around the globe! Today we experienced comfort, encouragement, smiles, cleansing tears, laughter and hope. Thank you for being a part of that incredible gift to us! If today has inspired you in some way to want to do something to continue to help, there are endless opportunities out there. Start at home and reach out to a family you might know personally. Volunteer to help out with local or global childhood cancer research projects, hospitals, foundations, or organizations. Donations are always needed too.

This Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day is all about encouraging kids and their families who have been wounded in battle. Our hope is that as you engaged in the child-like joy of the moment your eyes felt opened a bit wider to the struggles, and your heart opened a bit wider to the possibilities of other ways you can get involved.

THANK YOU for showing up to this world wide party and for being a part of something amazing today! See you next year as we have more fun together and reach out to even more kids and families in need of our support.

A HUGE and special thank you to Alisa (Malia’s aunt) who pretty much ran the website today! This event would never have happened without her creativity, passion and technical abilities. You throw a fabulous birthday party.

By Annette Peterson, Malia’s mom

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2015 Stats!

In the past week (2/11-2/18), here is what’s happened with our little day (that’s not so little any more)!!! I stand AMAZED!!!! The world heard that‪#‎kidsgetcancertoo‬ and Wow – we celebrated, remembered and partied on with a truck load of amazing kids!!!

Website: 5,000 separate people came and checked it out!

Facebook: on our page alone the total reach was 147,057 separate people with 20,994 people who liked, shared or commented on a post directly from or on our page. Plus 3,841 new likes of folks who will join the movement next year! This doesn’t account for anyone who posted their picture somewhere else (like on their own page or on a news article) without hashtags.

Hashtag Stats (from facebook, twitter & Instagram):

Posts containing ‪#‎eaticecreamforbreakfast‬ were seen by 872,319 separate people & posts containing ‪#‎icecreamforbreakfast‬ were seen by 3,918,242 separate people!

2015 Star Power!

Malia’s uncle suggested that Malia’s family event become a national holiday. So on a whim, a graphic was made and shared on Facebook.*  Within days, it went viral and over 1,600 people from 12 nations joined in to eat for childhood cancer awareness. And 55 cancer kids and their families were honored and over 85,000 people heard the message that kids get cancer too. 

Minnesota Connected, February 20, 2014 by Deb Olson You have eggs and bacon for breakfast when there’s time. There are frozen pancakes, sans syrup, for the kids to eat in the car on the way to school. Greek yogurt and granola, when you’re dieting. Or, simply, Cheerios. Regardless, it’s the most important meal of the day. It boosts your metabolism and provides energy. So, ice cream?!  (read more)

KTIS Radio Interview with Malia’s Mom

KTIS 98.5 did a story on our girl to let the Twin Cities Area know about Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day.  They interviewed Malia’s Mom, Annette.  Malia loved KTIS and would regularly belt out all the songs she knew by heart driving to and from chemo, radiation and countless doctors appointments during her cancer treatment.  Annette was so pleased to have the chance to say thank you to KTIS for the opportunity to say thank you for the joy they helped bring into Malia and the whole family’s life during that time and since.

View interview/video on Facebook