By Ian Miller
When you walk in our doors, it’s not only staff who greet you: We also have many volunteers working every day, helping The Golden Scoop and supporting our Super Scoopers, so they can be successful! Many of our volunteers are high school students (especially during summer and winter breaks) or college students gaining volunteering credits for various classes.
Currently, we have several occupational therapy (OT) students working as volunteers in the café. Two of them, Abby and Clare, sat down with me for an interview about their experience volunteering at The Golden Scoop. Getting the perspective of a volunteer is a valuable source of information, and Abby and Clare were happy to share their thoughts.
“Abby and I are here for service learning for occupational therapy school,” said Clare. “I chose this location because I love ice cream, and I thought I would learn a lot from [Program Director] Hannah [Buechler], because she is an OT.” [Hannah graduated from Rockhurst University with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy before coming to work for The Golden Scoop as our Program Director.]
Clare continued, saying, “I really like the mission of The Golden Scoop; I’ve heard a little bit about it, but I hadn’t been [there] before, so I was excited to come and see everything that was going on here.”
Abby added, “I had never met [Hannah], but I’d heard a little bit about her. I knew [shift manager] Caitlin Fitzpatrick . . . through my family, so I knew a little bit about [The] Golden Scoop and they thought it would be a good fit for me.”
During their OT program, students must volunteer at an organization of their choosing for field experience. Abby and Clare both picked The Golden Scoop as their top preference!
“We felt very lucky to get The Golden Scoop, because this was definitely a highly wanted one and everyone wanted it,” said Clare. “We love it; there’s so much more to it than I thought, behind the scenes, [and] seeing [Hannah’s] perspective as an OT on how she can target every [Super Scooper’s] goals and support them has been really cool and [we’ve] learned a lot, in that sense. It’s just a super-fun environment, getting to know all of the associates [and] trying all the ice creams has been really fun!”
I asked Abby and Clare how they felt about being part of The Golden Scoop’s mission, and they were enthusiastic. Clare said, “I feel like just getting the word out about this place [is important], because not a lot of people have heard about it or know the mission. If people just came in one time, they would fall in love with it and have to come back! . . . I feel like everyone would be like that, if they came in here, because I know I don’t want to leave.”
Find the Golden Scoop at these locations:
9540 Nall Avenue
Overland Park, Kansas 66207
913-284-804410460 W 103rd Street
Overland Park, Kansas 66214
913-232-9639Hours:
Monday – Closed
Tuesday-Saturday: 8am-7pm
Sunday @103rd: 9am-5pm
Sunday @ 95th: 1pm-5pm
