Circle of Friends

Crumb Together Bakery will provide meaningful training & employment opportunities for adults with disabilities in the baking industry. Since 2004, Circle of Friends has been providing social opportunities for children and teens with special needs. As they mature, we are committed to supporting them.  This bakery program will build self-esteem, job skills, social connections and great tasting kosher baked goods. The baked goods will be sold at local farmer's markets, specialty stores and online for pickup and delivery.  Equally important, the bakery will be a place to socialize, have fun and become part of the larger community.  In order to build our commercial kitchen and employ our uniquely qualified staff, we are raising funds and awareness.  Our first class of students has started their job training and food certification class at a temporary commercial, licensed kitchen.  Please lend a hand and invest in our community so we may build our own commercial, licensed kitchen space to reach more adults with special needs. We have done a small amount of fundraising but we now need to secure a year's worth of expenses for kitchen rental and staff salaries and to eventually rent a space of our own.  My husband Bill and I have been involved with Circle of Friends since 2009 when our children started volunteering.  We share the same vision as Circle of Friends which is to continue to support these teenagers into adulthood and the idea for Crumb Together Bakery was born.  We hope to perfect this bakery training program and assist other groups in using our model to start similar programs in other cities. Everyone deserves a chance to reach his or her full potential and become part of the fabric of their community.

"One of the great things any community can do is not teach tolerance, but live tolerance, not talk respect, but live inclusivity." -- Michael Pritchard