During the throes of the pandemic, one local optometrist set aside her retinoscope and eye chart to step into a sweeter world—scooping ice cream and creating opportunity for people with physical and developmental disabilities.
Now Jake’s Ice Cream and Jake’s Gourmet Popcorn founder Robin Rinearson has won a humanitarian award for that work from her alma mater, the Illinois College of Optometry (ICO).
Rinearson opened her scoop shop in Barcroft Plaza shortly after retiring from optometry in 2021. One of her goals was to give her nephew, Jake, who has cerebral palsy, a job after he lost his during Covid. Two years later, she opened a popcorn shop by the same name a few miles down the road in Seven Corners. Today, the two storefronts employ a total of 36 employees, 33 of whom have physical and/or developmental disabilities.
“We had never had this opportunity before,” says employee Meghan Muskett, 39, a Falls Church resident who has Down syndrome. “I never had a job where I could reach out to other people. It is a great feeling to have this job.”
Rinearson’s efforts “[remind] us that true service extends beyond the clinic—into community, family and opportunity,” Jennifer Harthan, chair of the ICO Alumni Association, said in presenting Rinearson with the award on Sept. 6 in Chicago.
ICO alumni submit nominations for the award along with a summary explaining why each candidate should win. The ICO Alumni Council then votes to select winners based on their qualifications. “It’s a heartwarming gesture,” Rinearson says. “It’s very, very nice to be recognized.”
Rewards for Rewarding Work
This isn’t the first time Rinearson been honored for her advocacy. In 2023, she received the Catalyst of Change award from The Arc of Northern Virginia, an organization comprised of people with disabilities and their families and allies. The Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia gave her the Eleanor Sue Finkelstein Inclusion and Disabilities Award that same year.
Not one for the spotlight, Rinearson prefers to keep the focus on her stores and staff. August marked the ice cream parlor’s fourth year in business and the popcorn shop’s second. Jake’s Ice Cream celebrated the milestone on Sept. 13 by giving away cotton candy and samples of its newest offering: fresh-baked cookies. Jake’s Popcorn will follow suit with a similar anniversary promo on Sept. 21, 12:30-2:30 p.m.
“Since the ice cream shop goes dead in the winter, I’m trying to come up with something we can sell there to bring people in that isn’t just ice cream,” Rinearson says. She hopes cookies will do the trick.
If sales are good, she might teach the staff to make soft pretzels, too. “Maybe in the summer, we will do skillet brownies for skillet brownie sundaes,” she adds. “It’s something we’re trying. Is it going to work? No idea.”
A Visionary Path
Rinearson has always been enterprising. As a student at Falls Church’s J.E.B. Stuart (now Justice) High School, she took enough college-level courses to graduate with 2.5 years of college credits already under her belt. She was part of the first class to include women at the University of Virginia, but shifted gears and transferred to ICO to follow in the footsteps of her optometrist father.
By 1977, she held bachelor’s, master’s and post-doctoral degrees from ICO and joined her father’s Falls Church practice, Nova Vision Center. She worked there for almost 45 years, treating pediatric patients, many with special needs. In fact, her first 11 hires at Jake’s were former patients.
In the mid-1980s, Rinearson worked with Arlington Del. Warren Stambaugh on a bill to allow optometrists write prescriptions and dilate patients’ eyes. As a member of the American Optometric Association, she traveled the country and successfully lobbied to expand the scope of optometry as a medical practice. In 1989, the Virginia Optometric Association named her Optometrist of the Year.
After decades in the field, Rinearson retired from optometry in late 2021. But she didn’t stop working. Her nephew Jake needed a job, so she founded an ice cream shop and hired him. Two years later, she opened Jake’s Gourmet Popcorn in Seven Corners Center.
Full Hearts and Bellies
Muskett has worked at Jake’s Ice Cream ever since it opened. She’s responsible for scooping ice cream and making and decorating waffle cones.
“The reason I am grateful for Robin is because she always thinks about adults with disabilities,” Muskett says.
“It’s been a wonderful opportunity for [Meghan] and brings her great joy and self-worth,” says her mother, Kathy Muskett. “Robin is an amazing employer. She expects the best work from all the staff and holds the bar high.”
Anna Tiernan agrees. She describes Rinearson as “the best boss ever, and a good manager.” The 26-year-old Arlingtonian, who also has Down syndrome, is also an original staffer.
Rinearson “is not simply a business owner with a good heart. She is a strong advocate for those often left behind in the workplace and the current economy,” Tiernan’s parents, Kay and Tom Tiernan, wrote in an email. “She is a true humanitarian who recognizes that all people bring different abilities to their jobs.”