Gavin’s Frozen Treats sweetening up local events, businesses

By Zach Cooley

Kim Brooks is particularly happy with her eldest son Gavin’s choice of career.

Since moving to Rural Retreat a year ago with his mom and 19-year-old sister, Molly, Gavin has become quite a popular fixture within the community.

Gavin’s Frozen Treats offers everything from hand-dipped ice cream to prepackaged Spongebob ice cream bars and ice cream sandwiches. Gavin also has a brother named Gage, 23, who lives in Johnson City, Tennessee.

The 25-year-old graduate of Abingdon High School, who grew up in Damascus, was born with Down syndrome. He was not permitted to attend the same school as his siblings, as Washington County only provides special education at one hub school.

Nevertheless, Gavin was born with an unfailing drive to work and establish his own career. Considered a high-functioning adult compared to most with his condition, Gavin has wanted to have a job ever since his graduation, even though he could have remained in the school system until age 21.

“It was the issue of keeping him safe that held me back from helping him get a job,” admitted his mom, a native of Martin County, Kentucky. “He wanted to go straight into the workforce.”

However, that didn’t stop Gavin from volunteering at myriad jobs, including part-

time custodian at Rye Valley Elementary School and at the Abingdon Food Bank. Even though he could not be a student at Holston High School with his brother and sister, Gavin also served as the high school mascot for nine years.

“Gavin is very capable of being a grocery store bag boy or restaurant busboy,” Kim Brooks noted. “However, if someone lures him to their car or comes in on him in the restroom, he doesn’t know that could be dangerous.”

Nevertheless, Gavin approached managers at fast food restaurants and gas stations expressing interest in employment. Despite a few callbacks, Gavin’s mom was concerned for her

son’s safety. However, after attending his sister’s travel ball games, he would witness children being served from ice cream trucks and decided that would be his calling.

As fate would have it, a March 2024 visit to her hometown in Kentucky would convince Kim to help realize her son’s dream when her aunt’s neighbor had a bus for sale. After explaining to her son all the job would entail and much prayerful consideration, Kim decided to buy the bus. She and Gavin spent March and April properly renovating the vehicle into Gavin’s ice cream truck and obtaining all necessary permits.

Then, on May 11, Gavin was hired as a vendor at a Dublin festival.

“Watching him at that event talking to people and handing them ice cream, I knew I had done the right thing,” Brooks reflected. “I knew this was his calling.”

Gavin has received tremendous support from his home communities of Abingdon and Damascus, as well as throughout the local communities of Wytheville and Rural Retreat. On Wednesday, June 12, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Gavin will be appearing at Wythe Family Dentistry.

“We have been so blessed and are in awe of the outpouring of support throughout Southwest Virginia,” she added. “Even though we are not originally from here, we have been embraced as one of Southwest Virginia’s own.”

As if Gavin’s career is not inspiring enough, he is a 16-time gold medalist on the state level as a Special Olympics swimmer. National competitors are chosen by lottery once you are a gold medalist. On June 7 and 8, Gavin competed for his 17th gold medal while swimming at Richmond University in the state capital. He trains heavily for four consecutive months out of the year, despite being in the pool year-round.

“Gavin is blessed to have the innocence and purity to see the good in all people,” his mom stated. “As adults, we forget to put others first and look out for ourselves. Gavin wants his teammates to win more than himself.”

Additionally, Kim says that Gavin’s siblings are better children for having a disabled brother.

“Inclusion is not just for the benefit of the disabled person,” she offered in closing. “Inclusion is for everyone because it teaches you that all people are human beings who deserve a chance at a good life.”

For more information or to book Gavin for your next event, call 304-416-4715 or visit Gavin’s Frozen Treats on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559424005516.