08/31/2026
The converted short school bus decorated in ice-cream balls is more than a business with sweet treats. Owner Emily Grace developed it as a hands-on vocational training ground for adults with special needs.
Eric Silverman has plenty to do when he works on the Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Love food truck.
He greets customers. He helps prepare orders. He serves the truck's signature ice-cream balls, made with marshmallows and a crunchy cereal coating.
There is one problem with the job.
“I don't eat ice cream,” he admits.
What he does like is the food truck.
It’s a converted short school bus, and Silverman has been fascinated by the yellow vehicles since he was a child. So when he started volunteering on the truck, it didn't take long for him to decide that one bus might not be enough.
“It's little. It's little,” Silverman said when asked what he likes about it. “I want to get one. You're going to give me one, Mom, aren't you?”
His mother, Alexandra Silverman, laughed.
“He wants me to buy him one,” she told host Matthew Peddie on "Florida Matters Live & Local. “He's always been very attracted to school buses from the time he was little, so this was just an even more perfect fit for him to be able to take part.”
Then came the practical question.
“Where will we put it is the big question.”
The bus is more than a quirky backdrop for Silverman's fascination with school buses. Goodness Gracious was developed by co-owner Emily Grace as a business that provides hands-on vocational training and inclusion for people with disabilities.
The converted short school bus decorated in ice-cream balls is more than a business with sweet treats. Owner Emily Grace developed it as a hands-on vocational training ground for adults with special needs.
