THUNDER BAY -- An ice cream shop run by three ambitious teenage girls had its first unwelcome guest over the weekend.
To the surprise of Maeve Pylypchuk, the 14-year-old entrepreneur from St. Ignatius High School, her ice cream shop on Balmoral Street was completely vandalized overnight.
“I was very surprised at first and upset,” Pylypchuk said. “A bunch of stuff all over the ground, our snow cone flavouring had been poured everywhere, and all the ice cream was melted.”
Pylypchuk runs Three Scoops out of a trailer beside Fresh Air Experience alongside her two friends, Grace Wilson, and Sarah Drebit, both 14.
The trio have been operating the business since last summer. They work seven hours per day on weekends, and five days a week during the summer.
“We worked really hard to start this business,” she said.
The setback, however, has turned into the latest example of tremendous community support.
One of the girls’ family members suggested they create a GoFundMe page in order to help pay back the cost of the damage.
In two days $2,245 had been raised, just a few hundred short of their $3,000 goal.
“We were really surprised,” Pylypchuk said. “It was really cool to see that. It will help us get back on our feet.”
The Three Scoops team expects to re-open operations June 23.
