Our Story

In 2008, Tempa and her husband Michael began thinking about plans for their son Bradley (born with Fragile X Syndrome) when he would turn 22 years old and age out of county supported programs. They were trying to determine what jobs would be best for him as a special needs adult. As they were looking, they realized that there weren’t many options available for adults with special needs. They began to feel that God was giving them a vision for a bakery that would impact their community in a positive way by employing special needs adults and providing free birthday cakes for children whose families could not afford to purchase one.

Seeing how Tempa has been baking and decorating since she was 13, they got excited about doing this with their lives, and there were other people who began to get excited and dream along with them. Six years later their dream became a reality when they leased the building, hired the original staff, and opened on January 23rd, 2014, also Michael’s mother’s birthday.

Their first customers through the door were a special needs group out on community skills that had no idea that they had just opened, and their last customers that day were a young couple with their wheel chair bound child that had chosen to have dessert rather than dinner for their anniversary, as they could only afford one. It was confirmation from God with these bookends on their first day that they were following HIS will for their lives.

There were challenges for them along the way too.  They were training a new staff and trying to keep up with the orders that were flooding in, as well as learning how to run a business with all the demands it required. Special Kneads and Treats had grown so fast and they now had 16 special needs adults in meaningful, gainful employment along with 4 that volunteer and another 150+ on a waiting list.

A lot of special things happen during a typical week for them. Approximately 600 customers come through the door resulting in almost 1,800 cupcakes being sent out along with various other cakes, cookies, choc-corn, and many other sweet treats. Sometimes up to 20 free birthday cakes are provided as well as many donated sweets to various other non profits and specialty groups in support of special needs or those less fortunate.

Some of the important things that special needs do on a weekly basis are placing stickers on just about anything you can imagine like bags, boxes, cups, lids, containers, etc. They help with laundry, cleaning and stocking, folding boxes, preparing recipes, decorating products and even assisting customers and in some cases running our registers.

They are honored that their work has caught a good bit of media attention over the last several years from local as well as national news stations and media publications. This media coverage has opened their eyes and hearts to the realization that there is a huge need for the services they offer not only in their community but in all communities across our great country.

Hard at work in the Kitchen

They had a wonderful 3 years and 4 months, but now they believed that God has placed a new and bigger vision in their hearts.  In 2017, they envisioned a larger facility where more special needs can be employed that is more suitable for those requiring wheelchairs and walkers along with the ability to produce more products in support of the less fortunate and in need which could also be utilized as a distribution point feeding into small store fronts in most of the surrounding cities which in turn would allow for more special needs employment and community outreach.

They procured a mortgage on a larger 11,000 square foot facility just about 8 blocks from their original space on the Lawrenceville Square. This not only provides for the above but also could open up more special needs employment opportunities that could include the ability to start shipping their product along with the capacity to handle larger contracted orders by stores and businesses that may wish to sell their branded products.

They are excited for the next phase of their journey to provide special needs adults with a meaningful job that encourages a sense of purpose and pride.  We would love for you to be a part of their special community.