Donald Desmond is a resident in the Goldwyn Lodge on the iconic Motion Picture Home campus and a gift to everyone around him. Don says, “my philosophy for a happy life is to always have something to look forward to.” When Don was a kid, long before his successful career as a Hollywood Teamster and entrepreneur, he and his brother would push an ice cream cart in the neighborhood to make some money. “The kind of carts with the bells. If we sold four boxes of ice cream bars, we got to keep the profits from the fourth box.”
Deep in the pandemic lockdown, Don decided the residents on campus needed a little something to look forward to. With the help of Larry Frybarger, Assistant Recreational Therapist at MPTF, he searched the web and purchased a brand new, chrome ice cream cart. Don had it shipped out from New York. He couldn’t be happier when he says, “The residents can hear the bell coming down the hall and it reminds them of their childhood. We’re all one big happy family here. We just needed a little spark!” When asked why he does it (and Don does many different things for residents here!) he says simply, “I enjoy seeing people happy.”
