Employee of Massachusetts coffee shop jumps for joy as he receives first paycheck
By Shaun Chaiyabhat
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MELROSE, Massachusetts (WCVB) — The moment of pure joy experienced by a Massachusetts coffee shop employee upon receiving his first paycheck is going viral.
Bitty & Beau’s Coffee in Melrose opened in August 2021 and employs people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
When the coffee shop opened last year, Joe Sullivan wanted to be a part of it. Eighty people applied to work at Bitty & Beau’s, but there were only enough openings to hire 20 of them.
Sullivan and his mother, Tonya, visited Bitty & Beau’s every Sunday to enjoy some coffee and in the hopes of getting Sullivan a job at the shop.
He got hired by Bitty & Beau’s in July and literally jumped for joy when he got his first paycheck last month.
“I feel a bit good,” Sullivan said.
For Bitty & Beau’s founder Amy Wright, the coffee shop is about creating a path for people with disabilities to become valued, accepted and included.
“It was amazing for me. It’s what I wanted for him. It’s what every parent of a child with intellectual and developmental disabilities hopes for,” Tonya Sullivan said. “There’s all kinds of coffee to choose from. There’s all kinds of drinks to choose from, but there’s also smiles and conversation and atmosphere that’s you are not going to see, typically, when you go to get a cup of coffee.”
The coffee shop’s goal is to change the way people see other people with disabilities, especially in the workplace.Massachusetts coffee shop breaking barriers for people with disabilities Amy Wright and her husband, Ben, are the parents of four children: Lillie, Emma Grace, Beau, and Bitty. Lillie was born with autism, while Bitty and Beau were born with Down syndrome.
In January 2016, the Wrights opened the original Bitty & Beau’s Coffee in Wilmington, North Carolina. The shop in Melrose became their seventh location when it opened on Aug. 28, 2021.
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