Be the Blessing Bakery at the Randy Sams' Outreach Shelter in Texarkana recently received the Outstanding Community Service Award from the Texas Homeless Network during the annual Texas Conference on Ending Homelessness in Austin.
Be the Blessing was nominated for the award by David Orr, who wrote, "Be the Blessing Bakery is a program of the Randy Sams' Outreach Shelter. Participants in the cooking class have shown such tremendous aptitude and love for baking that Cathy Smith, community advocate, professional caterer and all around great person, agreed to oversee the program."
The recognition is appreciated.
"I think for Randy Sams' as a whole this is important," said Jennifer Laurent, shelter executive director. "We've been working for 20 years to help find solutions for people and this is a continuation of that. To be recognized statewide is
always an honor."
The bakery idea grew from cooking classes Smith taught for 18 months at the shelter as a volunteer. She became bakery director as the program grew. Now the bakery provides jobs to individuals who are homeless or who have been homeless in the past. Proceeds from the bakery help support the services provided by the shelter.
Be the Blessing is currently located at HandsOn Texarkana on Olive Street.
"They're at HandsOn temporarily while we find them a permanent location," Laurent said. "They're continuing to bake and expand what they do. They've had several people go through the program and they just got back from an international conference and have learned some new skills they're excited to share."
The Texas Homeless Network is a nonprofit membership-based organization helping communities strategically plan to prevent and end homelessness. For more information, visit thn.org or call 512-482-8270.