The answer was ice cream. Powell special education teacher Katie Bott had kicked around the idea of an ongoing education program for students since she was a student in high school. Her baby blue ice cream trailer, A Scoop of Hope, is a step in that direction. 

“The biggest thing to me is to see these kids learn some job skills and be able to put into practice what we work on, through their elementary, middle school and high school years,” Bott said.

Selling ice cream, giving hope

The truck is staffed by individuals with disabilities and others who want to get in on the frozen fun. This includes Bott’s young neighbor Quinn Hitz, who can be seen prepping the trailer and manning the register with a friendly smile on her face.

“We love to sell ice cream,” she said with a smile.

Megan Hessenthaler said she likes to eat it.

Hessenthaler, a senior at Lovell High School, is Bott’s only employee; the rest work on a volunteer basis. Bott has at least four adult volunteers who help her as well as younger volunteers who work for free ice cream.

“She’s working towards, you know, being one of my main people, and possibly manager … she’s learning and she’s amazing [and] lots of fun to work with,” Bott said. 

In fact Hessenthaler already wants the trailer to franchise, Bott joked.

Bott is also working with Vocational Rehabilitation who will eventually send individuals to train with Bott for six weeks. After that point they can work at A Scoop of Hope part time or use what they’ve learned to apply for another job with A Scoop of Hope as a reference.

“I love the part where you see the potential in people and you want to help them get there. That’s part of being an educator. I think you wouldn’t do that job if you didn’t see potential in people and have these really big hopes for them,” Bott said. “I think that’s what this is about, thus the name, Scoop of Hope.”

So far, the trailer, which has been running for roughly a month, has been a success. Bott has been able to sell ice cream during Plaza @ 5:30, Northwest College, the Cody Stampede Rodeo and more. It was fun to build the trailer and get it running, Bott said, but it wasn’t easy.

It takes a village to raise an ice cream trailer

For Scoop of Hope to become reality a lot of people pitched in along the way. The trailer, which is a repurposed horse trailer, had to have some work done. A hole was cut in the side to be a serving window by Lovell High School with the help of Brett George; the trailer was sand blasted by the Jeide family at Kleen Kare, Cayle Kremer painted the trailer, Dustin Short provided the logo work, Mike Smith from Cody built the shelf for the trailer, and White Ink has been working with Bott on the menu and stickers.

The window and woodwork were done by the Graber, Beiler, Bontrager and Hershberger families of Powell’s Amish community, who are also Bott’s neighbors. They also helped with taste testing, Bott joked, and were her test audience before she began selling at events.

“It’s hard to say all of the people that have helped me but there’s just a ton of good people,” Bott said. 

Outside of construction at the college, Bott has also received help with the intangibles including a business plan from Northwest College. Bott reached out to Stacy Kuenn, who is NWC’s instructor of business for guidance. Kuenn “immediatley thought of the [Bachelor of Applied Science in professional studies program]” where she teaches a capstone class.

“[The students] get to use everything they’ve learned in the program and apply it towards a business plan,” Kuenn said. “And so I approached her to see if she would mind working with those students, and of course, she said yes. She never turns down the opportunity to educate.”

Throughout the eight week class the five students, Sami Ashcraft, Tess Mattson, Andy McDonald, Beau Anderson and Ivan Lee, evaluated and updated Bott’s mission and vision. They also worked on a point of sale system and provided recommendations and marketing materials, among other things.

“She was very receptive to the feedback we provided and that we passed along from other community members,” Kuenn said. “I took my family to Southside Park to get ice cream, and she has great rapport with her employee, and it looks like they have a great time and from what I’ve seen her post on social media. She’s been great.”

Kuenn recognized the Northwest College Foundation who helped Bott get a spot at Plaza @ 5:30. She also thanked the community resources, the Wyoming Small Business Development Center, Todd Ernst of Pinnacle Bank,  the Wyoming Workforce and Pardners Cafe in Cody provided insight. 

Outside of Kuenn, Bott has good experiences with suppliers, other vendors and community members along the way. She gave a shout out to Bailey’s Frozen Novelties in Billings.

But the work’s not done. During the Rascal Rodeo on Saturday, Bott will debut a button system that will allow nonverbal workers to communicate with patrons. 

To learn more about A Scoop of Hope or where it can be found, people can visit the trailer’s Facebook page of the same name. 

“I hope the community enjoys it. And I hope that we get lots of different people being able to work,” Bott said.