{"id":237361,"date":"2021-01-04T17:38:53","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T23:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=237361"},"modified":"2021-01-04T01:51:28","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T07:51:28","slug":"texas-community-save-ice-cream-shop-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/texas-community-save-ice-cream-shop-dallas\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas community stepped up to save a very special ice cream shop in Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Quarantines and social distancing set in motion due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused businesses across the country to go bankrupt. Yet in Dallas, Texas, one business was saved after the community worked together to save it.<\/p>\n

Howdy Homemade Ice Cream is not your typical sweet shop. Since 2015, it has employed people with disabilities. Owner Tom Landis told TODAY<\/a> that it all started when he met Coleman Jones. “It was a real busy night at one of my other restaurants when I met Coleman, and he just immediately jumped in and helped serve food and was super friendly,” Landis said. “I called his mom up the next day and said, ‘Hey, you know, I want to hire this guy.’ He has so much potential, written all over him, and leadership.”<\/p>\n

Jones quickly became the face of the shop, and as Landis began hiring other employees with special needs , the community embraced them. “If I’m behind the counter and someone comes in, they have a visual look of disappointment on their face,” Landis said. “They want to see Coleman, they want to see my crew. They’re doing what they do, and frankly, they do it better than me.”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Mother opens bakery to help son and others with special needs find employment<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For Jones, it was more than just a job. “I was blessed that I ultimately get the opportunity to not only be employed for Tom, but to also be an asset where you’re going to blossom,” he said. Jones is now the vice president of the company.<\/p>\n

But the pandemic severely crippled Howdy Homemade’s business, like many other small businesses around the country, and they were in danger of closing. So one of their customers, Jaxie Alt, started a GoFundMe page to keep the shop open.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople love his mission, they love his ice cream, and they need something to root for right now,\u201d Alt told the Dallas Morning News<\/a>. The GoFundMe blew past its $75,000 goal to raise over $100,000. \u201cIt gives you goosebumps,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople we don\u2019t even know have given $100, $500, even larger donations… It\u2019s a place where so many of these adults wouldn\u2019t get a shot anywhere else.”<\/p>\n