Editor’s note: Alyson Rodriguez was an intern with El Paso Community Foundation up until Aug. 8.
Serving every scoop of ice cream with a smile, Howdy Homemade ice cream is coming to El Paso. Originally based in Dallas, Texas, the ice cream franchise is partnering up with the El Paso Community Foundation to bring unique flavors of ice cream to the Sun City.
“Howdy Homemade is something fresh for the community,” said Adam Tirres, program coordinator at the El Paso Community Foundation and manager for the new Howdy Homemade Ice Cream shop. “It will empower people with disabilities and give them a chance to work and succeed. I think that this will be a breath of fresh air for the El Paso community and for people all over that already have Howdy Homemades.”
Howdy Homemade Ice Cream held interviews to find staff of “Heroes” in the Foundation Room Sept. 6-7, located at 333 N. Oregon St. The room was filled with many young and hopeful interviewees waiting for their chance to be a part of the endeavor.
One of the applicants included Marcie Tirres, who is a big fan of ice cream and would love to be a Hero at Howdy Homemade.
“I like ice cream and I would like to make and possibly sell it at Howdy Homemade,” said Marcie Tirres. “If I get the job, I will be most excited about working around ice cream and getting to know new people.”
The qualities of a Howdy Homemade Hero include having a great smile, eagerness to work and a sense of purpose. That is exactly what hopeful applicant, Evan George Vourazeris, embodies.
“When customers come in, we want to serve them, to make them happy and to make them smile,” Vourazeris said. “That’s what life is about, making people smile. It doesn’t matter what we look like. What matters is what’s on the inside of your mind, in your words, and in your heart.”
Howdy Homemade Ice Cream will be located at 601 N. Oregon St. in the Roderick Artspace lofts in two suites. One suite will be used as the café and retail space where Heroes will greet customers and interact with them. The second suite will be the manufacturing space where all the ice cream will be made from scratch.
There will be 24 different flavors for patrons to choose from when visiting Howdy Homemade. The El Paso location will also have flavors unique to the border city such as dark chocolate chipotle, Tamarindo and other local flavors.
“Great projects attract great people,” said Adam Tirres. “The mission and the people are what sets Howdy Homemade apart from other ice cream franchises. We’re going to change the way people with disabilities are viewed. We want to provide a good quality of life for people with disabilities and extend services after they graduate, so then they have purpose in our community. It’s going to start happening one scoop at a time.”
The space that the ice cream shop will be located at is still currently under construction, but it will be finished mid-September. Training for the Hero team will begin soon after. Howdy Homemade Ice Cream will open its doors to the public in October.
Alyson Rodriguez is a staff reporter and may be reached at [email protected]; @alyson_rod1127 on Twitter.
