By Debra Rich Gettleman

In 2008, three modern orthodox women, Laurie Wexler, Sara Portman Milner, and Dina Leener, all guided by a sweet tooth and a passion to repair the 

world, came up with an idea of using pastry arts and baking to help young adults with learning differences find meaningful employment.

TheBeginning

They met with government leaders and service providers to fully understand the plight of job scarcity for these young people in the Metro DC area. Then in May of 2009, Sunflower Bakery opened their 501(c)3 non-profit 8-month pilot program in a Potomac, MD donated kitchen at Sholom Congregation and began offering vocational training in pastry arts and baking. 

The bakery idea wasn’t based on some whimsical sentiment. The three founders actually commissioned a study by an MBA class at American University’s Kogod School of Business that showed a real demand in the local kosher sector for baked goods. In 2010 Sunflower Bakery moved into a 1200 square foot warehouse in Gaithersburg, WA with donated bakery equipment and the support of the Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services. Then, in 2011, they opened the Pastry Arts Program. Sunflower’s kosher/pareve bakery has grown and expanded over the years, and now occupies its new home in Rockville, MD where they offer both the Pastry Arts and Hospitality Employment Training programs.

Why baking? According to Executive Director, Jody Tick, “It’s consistency, recipe following, and structure. It’s also repetition. All things we see a need for in this industry.”

Autism Spectrum

“A significant percentage of our students fall in the autism spectrum,” she tells me. “Pastry Arts is our signature training program. It’s been with us from the beginning.” In 2015 they opened Café Sunflower, a collaboration of Sunflower Bakery along with the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and the Jewish Foundation for Group Homes. The Cafe expanded employment training and employment opportunities to adults with learning differences in front-of-house operations and customer service.

In January of 2020, Sunflower moved into their new Sunflower Bakery Employee Training Center and opened Sunflower Bakeshop in March 2020, just before COVID hit. With a new production kitchen, a dedicated training kitchen, classroom space, offices, and a small retail bakeshop where Sunflower’s Pastry Arts students receive customer service training, the new space was ready to take on students. 

Then we all know what happened. The pandemic. But the founders used the shutdown to pilot a new training program, Hospitality. Tick tells me, “We now have two major training programs, Pastry Arts and Hospitality. Our strategic three-year plan is to grow our programs to train more students with learning differences.” In addition to baking and pastry art, the new Hospitality program trains students in customer service, front of house, food handling, and order filling. 

Pastry Arts Program

In their Pastry Arts program, they start with all students doing the same tasks at the same time in the same order. In learning phases two and three, students begin to work on different assignments. They have varied schedules, multiple tasks, and time constraints. Tick reminds me, “We do everything to prepare them for work in a competitive employment venue.”

Sunflower even has a job coach and offers job services which teach students how to search for employment, write resumes, and interview. And, because they know their students so deeply, they’re really good at job matching. “We look at the job requirements and the work environment to match the right student with the best opportunity,” Tick assures me.

The dedicated Sunflower team doesn’t lose touch with their students once they’re gainfully employed. They reach out on a regular basis and spend a lot of time educating their 60+ employer partners. “A lot happens on the employer side,” Tick states. “They may not be familiar with working with employees that have different learning styles. However, it’s really a win-win. Our students are more dependable than many other entry-level workers. They’re happy to be part of the team, happy to be contributing members of society. Dependability and loyalty are huge factors in our students’ success.”

Employee Training Center

In June 2020, Sunflower moved the Cafe Employment Training Program to their new Employee Training Center in Rockville and renamed it their Hospitality Employment Training Program. Sunflower also incorporated bread baking into its Pastry Arts curriculum in the summer of 2020 and began selling challah and rolls. In February 2021, Sunflower started its shipping program with shipments of hamantaschen nationwide for the holiday of Purim. “We have redefined hamantaschen,” Tick proudly announces.

“The Sunflower experience is transformational,” she beams, “Students come in and they don’t leave as the same people. The growth, self-confidence, and self-esteem are life changing.”

Check out Sunflower Bakery for pick-up, delivery, or online ordering at:

www.sunflowerbakery.org
info@sunflowerbakery.org