Donna Bieck has recently opened an ice cream shop downtown, something the city of Hastings has been missing for a while, but this one has a twist; Special Scoops will employ only people with special needs, making it the only business west of Omaha to hire staff with disabilities.
Special Scoops opened on September 21. They are open from 1-9 p.m. on weekdays, 12-8 p.m. on Saturdays, and 1-5 p.m. on Sundays. The first couple of weeks were a whirlwind, but Bieck knows she couldn’t have chosen a better location.
“I was born and raised in Hastings; downtown has always been important to everybody, and it has lost a lot in the last several years. To me downtown was just a given that that’s where we would be,” Bieck said.
The little shop will serve eight flavors of ice cream at a time while employing 32 special needs employees. Isaac Johnson, a Special Scoops employee, has already noticed the positive impacts of having a part-time job outside of school.
“I’m expecting to become a good listener and to stay focused on what I’m doing instead of messing around at work,” Johnson said.
Donna’s inspiration for this store started with her grandson, Aaron, who has autism and moderate intellectual disability.
“I know how hard it is for them to find jobs after school and an ice cream parlor was something I thought they could do, and they’ve proven to me they can,” Bieck said.
Everything Special Scoops has done is from donations, 20,000 dollars to be exact. This amount of money was raised from the end of June to the beginning of August, and it allowed the store to not have to take out a loan.
“Everything we did was from donations. If it hadn’t been for the city of Hastings, we wouldn’t be here,” Bieck said.
Donna Bieck remains extremely humble about all she has done. She gives all the credit to the Special Scoops employees.
“My goal is that I’m not gonna be here every day, it’s their store. I just helped to get it started,” Bieck said.
