One scoop at a time - Signin' with Molly Moon's!

signin' with molly moon's! from molly moon's homemade ice cream on Vimeo.

Whew, what a summer! We scooped (and let's be honest, we ate) a lot of ice cream ... we partied at Sasquatch and we visited some really awesome farms. But one of the coolest things that happened this summer, was the completion of our Signin' with Molly Moon's video & using it to train our staff on some basic American Sign Language (ASL).

We also spent some time blogging about our crew (like Eric & Jesse; Sayra & Brianna), and all the awesome things they are doing to make our community, and the world, a better place. So we figured we'd wrap up our series 'Making the World Better, One Scoop at a Time,' with Sky and Ashlyn. Sky and Ashlyn are two of our awesome shop managers, and they really care about making our shops accessible to more people. Without them, this video never would've happened! So we chatted with them to get the behind-the-scenes scoop: 

Q&A with Sky - Madrona shop manager

mm's: How did the idea come about?
Sky: About a year ago, several community spaces I am a part of started making it a standard for all events to be ASL-interpreted. I started thinking, ‘Why don't service employees have training in basic ASL?’ It makes so much sense for our employees to learn a few signs to be able to communicate better and make our shops more welcoming for Deaf and hard-of-hearing folks.

mm's: What's been your role in making this project happen?
Sky: Ashlyn and I have been working together on this project since I mentioned the idea to her. We came up with a list of signs we wanted our scoopers to know, created a storyboard and worked with our photographer James Moes to plan the video shoot. We asked Ali (a Capitol Hill scooper) and Ashton Sanderson (a regular customer) to be in the video, and had an awesome few hours filming with them. We worked with James on editing the footage and adding in the captions until it was finished. We are so excited to share this video with our employees (and our customers)!

mm's: Why did you want to do this?
Sky: Access is so important! Molly Moon's strives to make our shops comfortable and inviting for everyone, and this is one thing we can do to follow our word.

mm's: What are your hopes/dreams for your future?
Sky: So many things! [My partner and I] see ourselves running a farmstead B&B with goats and ducks and an orchard and someday providing a supportive and safe place for queer and trans youth to be themselves.

Q&A with Ashlyn - U Village shop manager

mm's: What has been your role in making this video happen?
Ashlyn: My role has been pretty simple. It's been helping Sky draft up what the video was going to be like, finding volunteers to help, learning some new fun customer service related signs and starring in the video - ooh la la!

mm's: Why did you want to do this?
Ashlyn: Really for a few reasons: first off I just love sign language! I'll never know all the signs in the world and that to me is so beautiful. Much like English, ASL is an ever-evolving language and there are other sign languages that I can learn in different parts of the world. Another reason was that I love our Deaf customers, and I want them to know we support the use of ASL in our community. And I always want to get behind any idea that makes working at Molly Moon's even more rad than it already is! Lastly, I've had a lot of folks in the past come to me wishing they could communicate using sign language. I wanted to help create that tool, and other resources, so we could make this a reality.

mm's: What are your hopes/dreams for your future?
Ashlyn: I would love to be an interpreter. Ideally I would like to work with children, both in a classroom setting and in the medical setting. It's always been a dream of mine and I'm working hard to make it a reality.

mm's: Thanks Sky & Ashlyn! You did such an awesome job on this video & we love having such caring & passionate peeps as part of the molly moon's team! 

Want to help us celebrate (& practice!) our new sign language skills? Stop by our Queen Anne shop tonight (Thursday, September 25 6 - 9 p.m.)! We'll be showing our video, saying a big 'thank you' to the people who helped us make this happen & offering free hot fudge & sprinkles if you order in sign language!