[upbeat music] - Howdy Ice Cream is about providing jobs for disabled adults and inspiring others to do the same, so that they can achieve their potential, too.

It's also about bringing happiness into our community.

We started Howdy Homemade Ice Cream, first and foremost, because of our own daughter who has autism.

And so we learned about Howdy in the fall of 2019 and I flew to Dallas, visited with the owner and said, "You know, I think this is the right fit for our business."

Hi, welcome to Howdy's - Hi, welcome to Howdy's.

- You know, as parents of a disabled child, when they finish high school it's a very daunting thought in your mind as to now what?

What's gonna happen?

And rather than sit back and wonder who's gonna provide a solution for our daughter, I think Betsy and I said, "You know what?

Maybe we're the ones we've been waiting for."

Let's do this.

Let's bring this to our community, help our daughter and help others, too.

- Howdy Ice Cream is.

What they did is set up a community where disabled adults are valued, appreciated, trusted.

And this is a place where they thrive.

They feel like they belong, they're comfortable and they're happy.

I can't tell you how much it means to all these adults to have a place.

They have a purpose every day.

They have work and they're appreciated.

And I think the community also appreciates them.

- We have a shop we're really proud of and excited about and it's a place you're gonna come and you're gonna smile.

But we also have a very active catering business.

We've been to churches, companies, nonprofit organizations.

We're throughout the community, Yancy County, Buncombe, Henderson, Transylvania, we're everywhere.

Tonight, we're out at Biltmore Lake.

We go out at Biltmore Lake every Friday and bring ice cream to the members of that community.

- I really like Howdy Ice Cream.

It's really good.

And it's awesome that they can come to your neighborhood.

It's really nice.

- So what we're selling here at Howdy is all of of my recipes and it's made in the back.

It's homemade, super premium ice cream.

And some of our best sellers are chocolate velvet peanut butter cup, peppermint crunch, vanilla fudge brownie.

And we also have a couple of dairy free options and one of the most exciting offerings we have, that we decided to introduce because we're in Asheville, kind of one of the micro brewery capitals of the United States, we decided to introduce flights.

And so you can get four flavors, two ounces per flavor, and that's an ice cream flight here at Howdy.

- One, it's great ice cream.

We've been trying with them for about two months now.

Second thing is what they stand for.

They represent a group of people that probably coming up through school were laughed at, were pushed at, were just looked down on and they're helping 'em get a career.

These kids are making a living and they're proud of it and they're excited about it.

And I can support that every day.

- My first check.

- [Mom] Oh!

No way.

What do you think about that?

- Puppet?

- [Mom] You got money?

- Yeah.

- [Mom] Oh my goodness.

How you feel about this check?

- Happy.

- [Mom] You do?

Oh my goodness, you're a grown woman now.

- I know, Mama.

- [Mom] Making all your money.

- Yep.

- [Mom] My goodness.

- I'm making a lot of money.

- [Mom] I'm so proud of you.

- I know.

[both laughing] - Lots of things are good and important about Howdy Ice Cream, but two the most important things are the fact that the shop is an accessible place of employment for everybody that works here.

And it's a supportive and inclusive community.

- I work here at Howdy's and I can do pretty much about anything.

I just like it 'cause they have disabled people like me that work here.

- I think what we're about is trying to dramatically increase the opportunity for disabled adults in the workplace.

You know, 82% of disabled adults do not work.

And we believe a big reason for that is lack of opportunity.

So we're here to give them that opportunity and show what they can do and that we hope that inspires others to do the same.

- Howdy Homemade Ice Cream is at 64 Long Shoals Road in Arden and they're open Tuesday through Sunday, beginning at noon.

For more information, you can call them at [828] 747-9174 or go online to howdyavl.com.