A retired Virginia optometrist opened an ice-cream shop in 2021 to create jobs for people with disabilities; her two stores now employ 35 and she says there is a waiting list to work there

By 2026, Robin Rinearson’s two Fairfax County businesses have become more than neighbourhood food shops, they have become workplaces where people with disabilities can build skills, confidence and independence. When retired optometrist Robin Rinearson opened Jake’s Ice Cream in Virginia in 2021, her goal was not simply to sell scoops of ice cream. She wanted to create something she felt was missing: meaningful, long-term employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Five years later, that small idea has grown into two businesses employing 35 people, 24 at Jake’s Ice Cream and 11 at Jake’s Gourmet Popcorn. Rinearson now says she has a waiting list of people hoping to work there. The story was reported by local news outlet FFXnow after Fairfax County supervisors recognised Rinearson on August 25 for her inclusive hiring practices. Earlier this summer, the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) also named her a 2026 Ability Transcends Challenges Award recipient.

It began with her nephew

The ice-cream shop was named after Rinearson’s nephew, Jake, who has cerebral palsy. Before the pandemic, Jake had held a job for years. But when Covid-19 disrupted workplaces, Rinearson became increasingly concerned about how easily people with disabilities could be pushed out of employment when adequate accommodations were not available. That experience helped shape her decision to open Jake’s Ice Cream in August 2021.Earlier reporting by Patch found that the shop initially employed 11 people, many of whom had been patients of Rinearson’s optometry practice. Employees were trained to handle everything from making ice cream and waffle cones to packing pints and decorating cakes and other confections. The idea was straightforward: give people a real job, teach them skills and allow them to become more independent.

From one ice-cream shop to two businesses

Jake’s Ice Cream, located in the Barcroft Plaza Shopping Center in Lincolnia, now has 24 employees. The business was followed by Jake’s Gourmet Popcorn, which opened three years ago at Seven Corners Shopping Center. Eleven people work there, bringing the combined workforce of the two businesses to 35. For Rinearson, however, the number of employees is only part of the story. Many of her workers stay for years and often recommend the jobs to friends. The result, she said, is unusual for a small business: there is a waiting list of prospective employees.

The job is meant to lead somewhere

Rinearson does not view the stores simply as places where employees can spend their working lives. The skills they learn, from serving customers and handling food to working as part of a team and completing workplace responsibilities, can potentially help them pursue other employment opportunities.Fairfax County’s proclamation similarly highlighted the businesses for strengthening employees’ independence, developing workplace skills and helping create a more inclusive community. The approach is also consistent with what Rinearson has said about the shop in earlier interviews. In 2022, she described the business as a place where employees could receive meaningful, year-round work rather than simply seasonal employment.

A national award brings wider attention

In July 2026, PBATS selected Jake’s Gourmet Popcorn and Jake’s Ice Cream as its Washington, DC-area recipient of the Ability Transcends Challenges Award. The annual programme recognises businesses committed to disability inclusion and employment. In 2026, PBATS expanded the awards to include one organisation in each of the 30 MLB cities, with the National Down Syndrome Society as a partner and support from the US Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.PBATS president Nick Kenney said the programme is built around the idea that opportunity, support and inclusion should extend beyond sport and into communities and workplaces. For Rinearson, that philosophy has played out behind an ice-cream counter and inside a popcorn shop. What began as a way to make sure people like her nephew had somewhere to work has become a small local employment ecosystem, one where the unusual problem is no longer finding people who want the jobs, but having more people waiting for a chance to get one.