The 5th Annual Gala-Q and beyond– thank you!

Good morning, everyone! Enjoying the weather warming up? I know I am. Let’s hope it stays like this for a while before the blistering summer heat comes in!

It’s been about a month since the end of our 5th Annual Gala-Q. To those who attended, we’ve said it several times, but once again, thank you for supporting us and our annual event! To those who didn’t, we wanted to share some of the things we talked about during our presentation that evening, and the progress on them in the month since then.

First of all, we finally have a donation total– counting everything, the 5th Annual Gala-Q raised $138,807.63. Thank you, sincerely, from the bottoms of all of our hearts. Your insane outpouring of support means we can employ more special needs adults, donate more cakes to kids in need, and spread the Good Word. And we have a pretty good idea of how to put this money to good use…

Being our 5th Annual Gala-Q, we wanted to make a motif out of the number five, and so during our presentation we introduced the five big asks. From short-term needs akin to lighting a match, to medium-term projects akin to lighting a candle, to long-term campaigns akin to shining a flashlight, all five asks would help “light the knead” and continue expanding our impact to the Lawrenceville area and beyond. As a refresher, these are the five things we talked about:

1. Cakes for Kiddos: The shortest-term ask, but far from the least impactful. We’ve been blessed to find several new partners in the past year to help revitalize Cakes for Kiddos ever since the pandemic, which means the demand for delivering free cakes to kids in need has only increased. Every twelve dollars donated is one more 9″x16″ cake for a child who may not otherwise get one for their birthday. As always, you can check this page for more information about this program.
2. Volunteer waitlist and payroll: We invited several of our waitlisted special needs adults to our 5th Annual Gala-Q. When we got to this section, we revealed our surprise– all of the waitlisted attendees got their first uniform and application, and we said we would be discussing their interviews with them in the following weeks! As of now we’re working through nine of those interviews, and some have even begun working already. Minimum wage is $7.25 currently, and we’re hopeful to eventually move these special needs adults onto the payroll.
3. A new box truck: We’ve had our sights set on this one for quite a while. If anyone remembers last summer, when our handyman biked across the country, he was also raising money to help fund this! Getting a box truck would enable us to deliver more cakes to farther places, especially if it’s refrigerated. The number we had in mind for a used truck is ~$48k, but thanks to a generous donation from a guest at the Gala-Q, we’re looking even higher. A bit more would allow us to get a new truck rather than a used one– along with all the warranties and ease of mind that come with it.
4. A new storefront in Duluth: Way back in 2020, one of our employees created a map of places in Gwinnett we could consider when expanding to a new location, citing local schools and shelters that would benefit from our programs. Using this knowledge, we now have plans to establish our first satellite location in Duluth! If you remember our old location at Lawrenceville Square, this location would be a similar size. For a lofty $250,000, this is a huge step out in faith as we’ve never had multiple locations before, and we’d be excited (if not a little intimidated) by the challenges and rewards this would bring.
5. A new full-sized bakery in Bogart: This is our most ambitious of the five. Rather than a mini Special Kneads storefront like what we’re planning for Duluth, this would be a full-size bakery much like our current location! We already have a building in mind, and we have plenty of support from one of our 5-year sponsors, so our goals are a bit more solid now. That won’t stop this from being the most expensive of the five asks, though– imagine closer to one million dollars!

We know that seeing numbers this large is very intimidating! But like Matthew 7:8 says, “for everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds.” We know that the word of God is within us, and that He will help us reach these goals. Keep us in your thoughts as we begin to embark on these journeys, and who knows? We could find ourselves reaching those goals sooner than expected.

Spreading the word would be awesome, too! We can only reach so many people, but everyone knows someone. We’re always open to network around and meet other people and local businesses.

Rest assured that we’ll keep you guys updated on these asks as they develop, either here, on our social media, or in our mailing list. And thank you again, for being awesome and supporting special needs adults! We say it all the time, but we really wouldn’t be here without y’all and your support.

Have a great day and God bless you!