About Us

Who We Are

The Sunshine Stop is the passion project of two ambitious, dynamic women—Ty Bricker and Bailey Hanson—and a group of high-spirited women, dedicated to creating sustainable employment opportunities for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. (Scroll down to meet our team.)

Our team at The Sunshine Stop knows firsthand through our work within the disability community, schools and other organizations, that only about 19% of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are employed. We know there are barriers to employment such as limited access to vocational training, societal stigma, a lack of workplace opportunities and a shortage of inclusive policies. We want to remove those barriers and provide training, opportunity and inclusive employment for our employees. We want to empower our employees and give them all the tools they need to succeed. We want to prepare them for the world ahead, and plant seeds in our communities so they are prepared in return.

What We Believe

We believe in kindness, generosity, community and acceptance. We believe our nonprofit business model can provide a fairly priced, quality product to members of the community. We believe that our talented employees can be paid a competitive wage and learn job skills they can apply to future opportunities.



• All workers are paid at least minimum wage for all hours they work.

• Job skill coaches are volunteers, assisting but never doing the work of an
  employee. We believe in the skills of our employee and let them shine.

• Every worker on every shift practices a mock interview with their job skills coach.

• We celebrate payday—and receive a real paycheck—at an employee social gathering every month.

• Employment opportunities with other employers in the community is encouraged and expected.


We believe in providing joy and a meaningful experience, as we help our Sunshine Squad employees learn the critical skills they will need to work in any community workplace. Our employees learn how to interact with customers, take payments, stock inventory, assemble packages, and more! All of these things can help in broader employment situations and this is why we do what we do. We believe in our Sunshine Squad—if we allow them to shine, they will find other employers who also want their time and talents!

This Means:

Our Story

Ty Bricker has had a lifelong passion for serving the disabled community. She was aware of the challenges those with intellectual and developmental disabilities have with employment. While on vacation to the Jersey Shore recently, she came across a business called the Compassion Café who was doing an incredible job employing workers with disabilities. She was able to meet with the owner and co-founder, Sue Sharkey, who shared their vision and story of the cafe. Ty took lots of notes and made a promise to herself that she would find a way to do something similar back home.

Back in Minnesota, Bailey Hanson had been hard at work teaching Special Education in the Minnetonka School District where she developed a program to help her students learn job skills. “Harbor Coffee Company” at Minnetonka High School featured made-to-order coffee and hot chocolate for teachers every Friday. Harbor Coffee was run by students in Bailey’s special education job skills class. The students wore caps and aprons and delivered the coffee via a cart through the school.  Parents and teachers were thrilled with the program and hoped it could scale to something after High School.

One day, the universe (and some very excited parents and friends) connected Ty and Bailey, so these like-minded women could build a program that was based on both their passions and experience. A few months later, they opened The Sunshine Stop.

In the Summer of 2024 in Excelsior, Minnesota, The Sunshine Stop began as a “proof of concept” entity with a small Board of Directors, 20 volunteers and a team of 15 Sunshine Squad employees. They assembled and sold Sunshine Stop branded snack boxes and lemonade at the Excelsior Farmer’s Markets and Flea Markets, and at other pop-up events in local schools during the prep week.

Our Bright Future

We are so proud of the success we had in our inaugraul 2024 Summer Season. And  we’re excited about the prospects for 2025 and beyond. We believe that The Sunshine Stop has a bright future and that what we do, can make a big difference for our community and our employees.

We have big ideas for the Summer of 2025 and we’ll be sharing the plan very soon.  Our intention is to identify locations where our Sunshine Squad can set up shop at local, public markets such as Farmer’s Markets, Flea Markets, Art Fairs, Street Fairs, etc. to sell our snack boxes and other creative items. While we sold snack boxes in 2024, we are continuing to investigate other retail items for assembly and sale by our talented staff, and possibly branded merchandise created by The Sunshine Squad themselves!

A critical component for our future efforts is the procurement of a Host Location for the 2025 Summer Season (June, July & August). We are hoping to partner with a resturant or other local business with a space we could use when you are not operating. We are fully insured and may be able to pay rent. For more details, select here for the Complete Host Proposal. Or get in touch with us via our Contact Page, and one of our board members will contact you shortly.

We’d love your ideas!
If you have any suggestions for event locations, ideas for inspiring products or you would like to help with our business model or procurement activities, please contact us.

Our Team

FAQ’s

Q: My child is currently in a vocational rehab program where they are learning employment skills. Is The Sunshine Stop similar to that? Can an employee of The Sunshine Stop also be in those types of programs?

A: The Sunshine Stop is not a full-time vocational rehab/job skills program. Our mission is to help provide part-time employment opportunities and job skill training on a small-scale. Our employees can be involved with The Sunshine Stop and their other job programs as their schedule permits.

Q: Do the wages that employees receive interfere with their qualifying for waivers and services they receive from the government?

A: In general, the seasonal and part-time nature of this employment should not be something that would significantly impact qualifying for services. As always, we suggest you reach out to your County Case Worker to confirm.

Q: How can we be sure we are on the list for the 2025 Summer Season?

A: To be sure you get updates about Summer 2025 employment opportunities, sign up to receive news and updates at the bottom of this page.

Q: Do you only help people with intellectual disabilities? 

A: We are focused singularly on helping those with intellectual disabilities to find meaningful employment roles in our community.

Q: I am an employee with family members who would like to volunteer, how can they get involved?

A: We love our volunteers and are always looking for new faces! Please visit the Contact Page and select volunteering so we can connect with you to match your skills, talents and interests to our mission. Please note, we try to keep our employees separated from family member volunteers, so employees can learn to work alongside others they may not know, just as they would in a work environment.

Q: As a parent/guardian, do I need to be present when my employee is working his/her shift?

A: No. In fact, we prefer that you are NOT there so that your employee feels empowered and independent. You’re always welcome as a customer, but no need to stay to be any kind of helper!

Q: What does my donation support?

A: Your donation supports the foundation of our company and helps us to fund the infrastructure expenses and core components of our nonprofit model. Our desire to provide social support and an employee community also requires investment that may exceed program revenue. For all of these reasons, we need donors and appreciate them greatly. To donate, please visit the Give Page.

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