Developing Daniel's Desserts

My 1st State Fair Blue Ribbon won for Decorated Holiday Cookies.

My winning cookies

Daniel & Me (age 5...him, not me )

The Pooler's 2010

The Pooler's 2016

A Platter of Meat, Crackers & Cheese.....Cookies!

Daniel helping decorate cookies for the Christmas Pop-Up Shoppe.

This is our Goddaughter Carly Fitzenberger.  She has been with me and Daniel's Desserts since day 1 and I couldn't do it without her. Ya, we love her a lot ❤️

Raspberry Cream & Fudge Macarons

Lemon Cremé Pocket Pies with Blueberry, Pineapple & Basil Frosting.

Through it all, our love just keeps growing

Daniel....being well, Daniel ❤️

Our beautiful daughter and best big sister Annie

My Dream....a work in progress. 

First off, this is one of the hardest things for me to do, I'd rather give money than ask for it.  But I have to keep reminding myself there is a bigger purpose ahead, and I have this great desire to accomplish it. 

For those new to our story, our son Daniel was diagnosed with autism in 2003 when he was 3 years old. 
If you know something about autism, you already know it's pretty expensive, and not just financially either.  You lose time, expectations, patience, dreams, and some dignity as well.  At the time Daniel was diagnosed I was working for Panera Bread as morning manager/catering coordinator....mornings: coffee, pastries, lots of pastries, cookies too!  When I wasn't working at Panera, I was baking and decorating cakes on the side for fun, the typical friends & family kind of thing.  As Daniel grew older and his autism was getting more and more difficult, I had to leave Panera to stay with Daniel 24/7/365.   A one person income is tough to work with when you have a family of 4 and your youngest has a disability.  One year I decided to sell Christmas cookies to raise money to purchase items for Daniel like a special swing to put up in his room for a calming spot.  We sold platters of Christmas goodies for $25, we had 55 orders our 1st year! Ya, we got that swing, AND I was able to make a small "room" (more like area) in our living room  where Daniel could sit and work one-on-one with me, Annie, Mike or his PCAs.  This was the start of our way of working with Daniel.  We learned a lot, we tried a lot of therapies, failed a lot, and succeeded some ( keepin' it real) but mostly the goal was  to get Daniel talking, I could handle everything else, I  couldn't handle not hearing "Mommy, I love you", same with hugs & kisses, We made sure we worked hard, very hard to get past the non-verbal and affection issues. (Update: Daniel now gives the best "big squeezes", says I love you several times a day,  he needs to work on his kisses though) 

Fast-forward to today, 13 years later and we've done Daniel's Desserts almost every Christmas since.  Usually the money raised went to purchasing items such as bunk beds for privacy, computers, animation software, more computers, lights, cameras, puppets, an automated desk that goes up and down so he can sit or stand, his posture is bad from working on the computer so much. If you know Daniel, his "thing" is computer animation and everything that goes with it.  On one hand, he has gotten so good at it we now encourage him to keep working and possibly it could turn into a career.  On the other hand, he couldn't pick a more expensive hobby.  "that's ok mommy, you can just make more cookies" is usually Daniel's response to, "I don't have the money to buy the $2500 animation software you are begging me night and day for."

2 years ago, I branched out to decorated sugar cookies, seriously decorated sugar cookies.  They were a hit! Last year I decided to enter my cookies in the State Fair baking competition for decorated cookies, only looking for real opinions, not from family and friends, and not expecting to win anything at all, just looking for advise.  Well, I won 1st place!! Got a blue ribbon and all! 
At this time I'm thinking this might be a good time to grow outside of my kitchen and start thinking of a bakery of my own.  

Because I'm with Daniel 24/7, I'd have to include him into the plan, and then I had the idea to build a bakery for our special needs friends, a place to work, learn a marketable skill, earn money and be in an all-inclusive and fun environment.  I started to develope a program with Daniel's teacher Lisa Santi, to have a work-study program for the kids at the school.  They would bring a couple of kids, a couple times a week to the bakery and learn basic and sometimes advanced skills in the baking industry.  I have the perfect plan, now I just need money. 

I met a friend-of-a-friend who was interested in building a bakery in his building downtown Stillwater and he wanted to partner with me to get my plan for Daniel's Desserts going.  While my new partner was working on the build and purchasing the equipment, I was working on getting my food managers license, built the intellectual properties of Daniel's Desserts, (menus, logos, websites) made about $10,000 in charges on my credit cards, we even got as far as the  plumbing, and then things came to a stand still.  The bakery was apart of a 3 phase project my partner was building; a restaurant & bar, a deli & coffee shop and my bakery.  Unfortunately phase 1, the restaurant & bar went over-budget, and Daniel's Desserts was taken off the project, we weren't going to open in May as planned.  Because John believed in my vision, he tried everything he could to work something out, but we just couldn't make something work that allowed me to have Daniel with me.  He then suggested I try something on my own, and although I was crushed, I realized it's probably for the best.

Because I used the money I raised to purchase items and services for Daniel as intended, I didn't keep record of sales or even proof of sales, no bank wants to help right now, the interest is there, but I have no record to prove we're profitable, so I'm on my own if I want to make this happen. 

This brings me to today, I'm not giving up, I'm down but not out.  My plan going forward is to start slow with farmers markets, local summer events like Lumberjack Days and Summer Tuesdays in downtown Stillwater this summer.  Get our name, our products and our mission out there.  This is where I need help. 

To do this, I need to turn my kitchen and dining room into a cake studio, basically a mini bakery in my home and I need to do it properly so the health department won't shut me down.  I've been baking for 13 years now with: 1 Kitchen-aid mixer, 1 bowl, 1 not-so-great oven and 20 sheet pans.  A table so low, my back hates it when I spend a long day rolling out dough, and miscellaneous make-shift things to keep some kind of order for everything bakery related.  I also need a delivery vehicle, something I could transport a wedding cake in without fear of destruction, and to transport my traveling bakery from event to event.  Right now what I have is not efficient and I can't grow if I don't upgrade. 

If you could so kindly donate to our Go Fund Me campaign you will be helping us get to our ultimate goal of opening a special-needs friendly bakery that you all would love to come visit.  Besides our super delicious baked goods, we will be providing a service for our special needs friends and their families.  I just have to get started, show a profit so banks are willing to invest in MY phase 2, an actual bakery.

Last but not least, a personal goal of mine, as Daniel's mom I have to make this right for him, I have mothers guilt.  his future is very, very important to me, and it's up to me to do the best I can possibly do for him and our family.  We've have come far as a family since the day Daniel was diagnosed.  We managed to make it out alive.  1 person income, lots of hard moments and decisions were had and made, Mike's 4 back surgeries and the lose of his job of 13+ years, and we're still married and in love for 20+ years, and now it's time to work all-that Pooler determination, magic & love into a very passionate and very well thought out project, Daniel's Desserts & Bakery.  Come visit us at the festivals, meet Daniel (you'll love him) and help us build some very important futures.  Please share this with your friends and families, everyone who you may know affected by autism.  As we grow, so does our passion to make this bakery a success for our special needs friends and family members. 

I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my sugar-coated heart, and I wish you peace & blessings for caring about us and our mission.  I can only repay your kindness with success, I owe it to you, everyone else who donates, our special needs friends and especially my son Daniel.  So, how about some cookies made with some serious love? ❤️

Thank you and God bless!!