They say it takes a village, and that’s exactly what The Village Bakery proves. Dana Bellefeuille, her husband and their two kids with special needs had a lot of experience being around kids with many different abilities. As part of one of her kids’ education, they worked at a local hospital focusing on job and life skills. One day parents were invited to hear presentations from students about their experience in the program and ambitions.
“There was a young woman with Down Syndrome. She gave her presentation and said that it was her dream to work in a coffee shop or a bakery, and that’s when the light bulb went off and my husband and I looked at each other…and that’s when the Village Bakery was born,” said Bellefeuille.
With 20 years of pastry experience, Bellefeuille knew she had the skills to make the girl’s dream a reality. Opened in 2022, the Village Bakery has already made a huge impact on both their employees and their community in Hayden, Idaho.
“When somebody comes in and orders a cake, I get to teach somebody how to make a cake or how to decorate a cake, and we get to give this masterpiece back to them and let them know what confidence was built, what job skills were learned and it just keeps going in this beautiful circle of blessings,” said Bellefeuille.
“So many of our customers have been touched in some way with knowing somebody with a different ability, a brain injury, hearing impaired, or visually impaired, so it means a lot to them that their loved ones in a way are also being supported.”
While sometimes people with different abilities are underestimated, they have many desirable strengths that aren’t always common.
“I always tell people that this group of individuals comes with the least amount of drama that you would find in the workplace. They’re the ones that show up early, they’re the ones that want to stay late, they want to please you in any way they can and the line of hugs that I get in the morning and in the afternoon and when we close from all the staff members, it’s like coming home,” said Bellefeuille.
After featuring The Village Bakery for our Business of the Week in February, we sent them some much needed products to update their kitchen.
“We were blessed with Cambro reaching out to us and offering us much needed supplies and it has made all of our jobs easier at the bakery,” said Bellefeuille.
At the top of Bellefeuille’s request were Camtrays® for their display case.
“Getting the items from Cambro really made us look professional,” said Bellefeuille. “The trays we use every single day in the front display case and the staff know where they are and they know how to fill the trays; it makes for beautiful presentation for our pastries.”
In addition to baked goods, customers had asked Bellefeuille if The Village Bakery provided catering. Previously, they didn’t have anything to use to transport food that would maintain temperature.
“[The Combo Carrier] has been a game changer. There have been a couple of small caters that we’ve been able to do to keep our food hot being transported, and we didn’t have those before. We were grateful to be able to expand and take on more orders in catering where we wouldn’t have been able to do it before because we would have no way to keep our food hot,” said Bellefeuille.
They also requested the Cambro products that every bakery uses most: food storage containers.
“Most of the supplies that we have acquired [previously] have been from other businesses that have gone out of business, pretty beat up and ugly,” said Bellefeuille. “We have new containers that are not breaking down with new lids. I would say that everyone is more excited about a good fitting lid than anything.”
While Bellefeuille is thrilled with the work they’re doing in her community, she hopes to see more opportunities for those with special abilities throughout the United States and abroad.
“I want to inspire our community and the world to look at the value of somebody with a different ability that they could have on their business. If it’s a bakery, great, I’m willing to go and help and train and show them what we can all do when we all come together,” said Bellefeuille.
If you’d like to support The Village Bakery from your neck of the woods, you can donate via Venmo (@villagebakerycda). Last year, Bellefeuille posted videos on TikTok of each employee saying what they wanted for Christmas, and it was a big hit!
“At Christmas time, I had put out videos and every single employee got what they wanted for Christmas because of TikTok. Every single person, and that meant the absolute world to me that there is so much kindness still in this world and how touched everybody has been,” said Bellefeuille.
If you’d like to nominate an organization for our Cambro Cares program, please visit www.cambrocares.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ADRIANA DESIDERIO IS THE DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER AT CAMBRO.
