“The saddest thing in life to see is potential in someone that’s never realized.”
Tom Landis, Owner – Howdy Homemade
Following a challenging season in life, Tom Landis received two gifts: legendary Alabama football coach Gene Stallings’ book Another Season, and an ice cream maker. These two seemingly unrelated gifts would not only be the inspiration for his next business, but would open doors and begin to erase boundaries for young adult with special needs in North Dallas.
Tom has worked closely with the Dallas special needs community for years, employing several special needs teens and adults at his Texadelphia locations. But it was the Stallings’ transparency and genuine honesty, in Another Season, about the hopes and fears for their son Johnny – who had down syndrome – that deeply impacted Tom. While schools have come a long way in developing programs for those with special needs, many of those programs are lost after the child graduates high school. Tom sympathized as a parent, believing these adults had so much unrealized potential but seeing parents, many of whom are already stretched thin, struggling to find opportunities for their young adult children.
Tom sees the ideal of Howdy Homemade in Howdy employee & Vice President Coleman Jones. Observing Coleman’s leadership abilities not only in serving at Texadelphia, but also in working with the Highland Park football team, Tom quickly invited Coleman to be a part of Howdy from the beginning. Like all of Howdy’s employees, he’s not just there to scoop ice cream. Coleman does everything from sweeping to running the cash register to making the ice cream and prepping the shop for opening. Tom’s hopes for Coleman and all of his employees is that Howdy is just the beginning.
Watch the film to learn more about Tom, Coleman and the Howdy Homemade team!
Howdy Homemade is located at 4333 Lovers Lane in Dallas, offering a fun variety of both traditional and creative ice cream flavors, including their famous Dr. Pepper Chocolate Chip.
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Just finished watching “Howdy” and it damn near brought me to tears. Keep up the excellent work that you do in seeking out, finding and putting to film those special individuals that go above & beyond to motivate and assist those who just need a little help in this world.
Fantastic, I have heard of Howdy and a lot about Special Needs but this is the 1st I have heard of someone going above and beyond suporting but puting his words into action.
What a beautiful story! I work as a Career Development Specialist in Rhode Island. I am working with students with special needs in a school setting. The students I work with are age 14 through 21. My goal is to prepare them for work when they exit our program. I try to expose the students to as many different work opportunities I can so that they will have success in the workforce while selfishly I am exposing the work community to our students with hope ALL students with disabilities will be accepted as productive employees.
Thank you for sharing this positive message!!
An amazing group of employess and the best ice cream around. Thank God for Tom’s vision
Absolutely beautiful! Can’t wait to go and support Howdy! Thank you Tom for this amazing vision
Wonderful video and so happy to see Tom’s dream come to life. We need more people who are willing to take chances and allow for employment opportunities for people with disabilities.