Soaring Dreams Thrift Store provides workplace for adults with special needs

When Vicki Helhowski visited Soaring Dreams Thrift Shop in 2019, she sought help with her fabric-tied wreath business. She and her adult autistic daughter, Jessica, needed some extra hands and wanted to enlist help from other special needs adults. She did not expect to hear news that the owners were selling the store.
Jessica Helhowski holding a coaster.
Having enjoyed a successful career as a physical therapy assistant, Helhowski says she had always felt another call to work alongside her daughter and other special needs adults.

“I knew immediately this wasn’t an opportunity I should pass up,” Helhowski says.

She took over the non-profit retail store in September 2019.

 “Having raised two children, one of them with autism, I was good at figuring things out one day at a time. So that’s what I did,” she says.

The store provides a workplace environment for adults with special needs, accommodating those with developmental delays and physical limitations, and allowing them opportunities to be contributing community members.

Courtney Seaford with treats.

Being familiar with the benefits of special needs individuals keeping a routine, she says creating custom t-shirts, mugs, ornaments, dog treats, body butter, soaps, and seasonally crafted items provides her volunteers with projects that require concentration.

Repetitive activities such as stickering and labeling provide Helhowski’s daughter and other volunteers an environment to obtain skills they may not otherwise have the opportunity to learn.
 
“We figure out what the volunteers are capable of and then know how to encourage them,” Helhowski says. “And they feel good contributing, and enjoy socializing with customers, and with one another.”
Patrisha Pledger decorating cake pops.
“Everyone needs a place where they belong and feel accepted, understood, and appreciated -  and that’s what Soaring Dreams provides,” Helhowski says. Volunteers range in age from high school to adults in their 50’s, including those with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, and traumatic brain injuries.

Soaring Dreams receives regular donations of high-end items including clothing and furniture, making it possible to keep prices low. 

“There is a little bit of everything” Helhowski adds, “Including clothing, jewelry, toys, antiques - you name it.”

From running the store’s corner ice cream shop, and making crafts, to processing donations,  sorting, displaying, pricing, and cleaning up the store, everyone lends a hand, contributing to each project.
Jeffrey Anger scooping ice cream.
“They are kids at heart, and their interaction with customers is the sweetest thing,” she says. 

Helhowski says the community is very supportive, with regular customers who bring in generous donations, shop or drop in randomly to see the volunteers because they believe in what they are doing at Soaring Dreams. 

Learn more about Soaring Dreams’ volunteers on their Facebook page, or visit the store in Riverside Plaza in St. Clair.