Jeni's Venice Serves 'Sunshine' Flavor For Mental Health Awareness

VENICE, CA — Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams is helping to bring awareness to children's mental health struggles with a new tropical flavor, "Sunshine."

The ice cream company teamed up with nonprofit On Our Sleeves, which works to break stigma and provide education about children's mental health. The campaign, which lines up with Mental Health Awareness Month in May, features an all-new ice cream flavor available called "Sunshine."

The flavor "tastes like an actual ray of sunshine" with tropical fruit and citrus flavors, according to Jeni's. The flavor is at the Venice store and other Jeni's locations starting Thursday.

"The flavor was intentionally designed to look the opposite of the way it tastes—a pleasant reminder that things aren't always what they seem. Like all our buttermilk frozen yogurts, it's made with fresh yogurt and cultured buttermilk, giving the ice cream that bouncy, chewy, ultra creamy texture we're known for," Jeni's said in a news release.

Customers can also donate directly to On Our Sleeves at the Jeni's Venice location, 540 Rose Ave, Venice. Jeni's will also donate $25,000 to help the nonprofit distribute their "Kindness Kits," which include activities and educational resources for kids to learn about and practice kindness.

One in five children has a mental health disorder and around 50 percent of mental health disorders begin before the age of 14, according to On Our Sleeves. Studies show that most mood, eating, substance use and personality conditions also begin in adolescence and young adulthood, according to On Our Sleeves.