I have with me, Theresa from Ashley’s Pastry Shop today and we are talking about your partnership with Daybreak and your experience. Tell us how long have you been involved with Daybreak and how did you get connected with us?

My connection began back in 2019 when Linda Kramer made a phone call to me right around Thanksgiving time mentioning and discussing our partnership on a project she had in mind about creating an employment opportunity for Daybreak residents that would be part of Daybreak. They would have their mentors there and we would be the “experts” involved in what they had for Lindy’s Bakery.

That was how Lindy’s bakery got launched. It was right around a week before Thanksgiving and that’s where we began.

Awesome! So, how have you seen Daybreak change since then?

Well, what was really neat is our partnership that we started with Daybreak for Lindy’s for a year we had the actual residents here working with us. They came in on Mondays and we taught them about the baking industry, scaling the doughs, developing recipes, formulating ideas.

We did a bakery layout for them about the most effective way to design the bakery and that’s when that bakery was over on Wayne Avenue when it first started. Equipment that they needed and everything like that. Then we saw the transition to the Patterson Road location and how it expanded more residents were involved and the key differences that it made in their lives.

Yeah, I’d imagine that’s a really big difference then, seeing that transition. What has surprised you the most in your time with Daybreak?

I think the situation is, I like to focus on an ounce of difference in someone’s life. So much of the time we try to think about grandiose things that we have to do and how we have to knock it out of the ballpark to be effective.

But Daybreak really shows it’s just an ounce of difference in one of the residents’ lives that can change the direction of their life for the future.

Providing that opportunity that we were able to as for as an employment venue for them to be able to get training, development, leadership skills. All those basic kind of job skills that if you grow up in a family where your parents get up and go to work and you have that mentorship around, you know the importance of being to work on time and getting along with your employees and what job responsibilities are.

But the residents of Daybreak aren’t fortunate enough to have that. So, it’s being able to make that difference in their lives to kind of give them a steppingstone to what the possibilities really are for them ahead.

Definitely! What would you say the thing that you most enjoy about Daybreak is?

The amazing thing about Daybreak I always feel is how you’re able to change the life of so many through your constant guidance, supervision, opportunities, dedication, commitment. All of those things are so very important in shaping young adults and you are the key to their success.

You are that driving force that makes a difference for them to realize that there is a change, there is an opportunity you just have to work at it.

Thank you so much! Partnerships with people like you help us make that difference with Lindy’s and all of that.

Well, I think what ends up happening is sometimes businesses like myself—it’s a small business—they’re apprehensive because they don’t realize what difference they can make and how their time talent and treasures can be beneficial in an organization like yours.

I think sometimes we think, “Oh wait a minute.”

I remember when Linda Kramer called me, and we met, and I went home and I told my husband and he was like, “I don’t know anything about baking dog treats.”

I said, “Listen, you know a lot more than they do and you know about baking.” I said, “So, together we are all going to figure it out.”

And I said, “We have the ability to make a difference. It’s a golden opportunity for us to take our talent and our time and turn it into someone else’s treasures.”

As a small business, all of us have something that we can give of ourselves. It’s just sometimes we’re wearing so many different hats that you have to be able to take that hat off of working at your business and you have to think what do I want my business to be remembered by.

Yes, I’m happy that my business is remembered by being the best bakery in Dayton serving delicious foods. But am I really proud of the fact that we helped launch Lindy’s and made a difference in some young adults lives? Yes, and that would be something that we carry with us long after Ashley’s is said and done.

We definitely still carry that difference to everything we do. Thank you so much for your time today and all of your kind words. We are very happy to have advocates like you and partners in the community.

Well, I think it’s wonderful. I remember when I spoke with Linda, you have to think outside of the box when you’re dealing with nonprofits and also you have to think out of the box when you’re running a business.

I think watching the transformation of Lindy’s from the little apartments over on Wayne Avenue to the big facility that you have right now to the outreach programs that you’re involved in, it’s just never resting. It’s always thinking of what more that we can actually do and that’s what you do. You just have great people in place that have that vision.

But the driving force behind everyone at Daybreak’s vision is a commitment to the excellence of young adults and giving them a new opportunity.

Thank you so much, Theresa. It was a pleasure.

You’re welcome.