Good morning bread friends.
First, thank you all for the support and encouragement last week.
It feels insanely good to get back to baking for my community. And honestly, it feels just as good to write to you all again. If you didn’t know, this newsletter started as a personal/public writing journey long before I envisioned launching a micro bakery.
The rebirth of the micro bakery is off to an exciting start. Thanks to you all, I was able to make 42 loaves of bread last week. Before I had the dedicated baking space in the basement, I regularly maxed out at 24 loaves in my family’s kitchen. After so much time off, I anticipated I’d be starting out back at that pace. But apparently, folks have an appetite for bread… and some justice 😎
Speaking of justice… are you ready to raise some more money for MMSD’s Transition Education Program (TEP) Fund?
Bread is currently for sale! If you’re ordering bread, you can click this link and place an order now. Or feel free to forward this to a friend!
As a reminder, the TEP fund is maintained by the Madison Public Schools Foundation, and it exists to ensure that children from families who are experiencing homelessness have the resources that they need to show up for and succeed in school.
Yesterday was the first day of school for Madison Public Schools, which means I got to walk my kids (1st & 3rd grade) to school again. To be sure, I’m not describing a chore. Walking my son and daughter to school is the literal highlight of my day. It is a privilege to saunter at a child’s pace and discuss whatever random curiosities are on their mind each morning.
I’m reminded again how deeply I believe that every child deserves the opportunity to show up to school well-fed, feeling safe, and having their needs met so they are ready to learn.
There is plenty that we can’t do to repair the injustices that society thrusts upon our youth. Sometimes the realities of life are sad. You might think of Bread & Justice as a way to be like Mr. Rogers and “look for the helpers”.
Instead of just letting hard realities make us sad and stopping there… it is empowering to be able to learn about a program like TEP that is already doing the work of finding students in our community that experience great hardship. Together we can support them as they are helping students get the resources they need to have a more equal opportunity to thrive at school.
Thanks for joining me in this effort to find ways to make the world a slightly better place.
Cheers!
Mo
the baker
P.S. Reminder again that bread is available to order on our website right now. And the window for bread pickup will again be on Saturday from 11am - 2pm.
P.P.S. Some folks got tripped up on the website last week with the options to buy bread and/or make a donation to Bread & Justice. To alleviate that risk of confusion for now, I’ve removed the donation buttons. So you’ll just be able to add bread to your cart and then checkout. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for your understanding!