A young entrepreneur with Down syndrome just opened his very first store after he could not find meaningful work.
John Cronin is 30 years old. He started John’s Crazy Socks ten years ago with his dad Mark because he could not find a job that wanted him. So they began selling socks together right out of their home. The business took off fast and it never really slowed down.
Last week John cut the ribbon on his first real store in Huntington Village on Long Island. That is the same town where the whole thing began.
John holds the title of CEO and also Chief Happiness Officer which says a lot about how he runs things. His dad believes their story matters for a bigger reason.
“It’s important for people with disabilities to see people like themselves working and owning a business,” Mark said.
The company has shipped more than half a million packages by now. They have two dozen employees and many of them have differing abilities too.
Store manager Kat Seaquist says the business is about much more than socks. “We are not really a sock store,” she said. “The socks become the physical manifestation of the story and the mission.”
So what is that mission exactly. John put it simply. “Spread happiness,” he said. And they back that up too because five percent of every sale goes to Special Olympics.
Even former President George H.W. Bush wore a pair of their socks to his own wife’s funeral. That tells you how far this little sock company has reached.
We do not hear enough stories like this one. A young man was told he could not find work and instead of giving up he built something that now employs dozens of people just like him.
God uses people the world might overlook to do some of the biggest things and John is living proof of that.
Let’s keep this family in our prayers as they grow their new store and keep spreading happiness to everyone who walks through that door.
WATCH: Man With Down Syndrome Opens First Store After Sock Company Success
