Several graduates of Sunflower Bakery’s employment training programs were recently hired at the new Wegmans location in Rockville, according to a July 28 Facebook post.
Sunflower Bakery is a nonprofit organization that aims to forge pathways to employment for teens and young adults with learning disabilities. The Rockville bakery offers preemployment exposure and workforce development training in pastry arts, culinary arts, hospitality and similar industries, according to Sunflower Bakery’s website.
Some alumni of the pastry arts and hospitality training programs are now employed at Wegmans, according to the announcement.
“Their employment is a testament to their hard work, the dedication of our staff, and the strength of our employer partnerships,” Sunflower Bakery wrote in a social media post.
We’re proud to see Sunflower alumni contributing to the success of this highly anticipated new store and bringing their training to life in a real-world setting.”
“How wonderful! A perfect match,” Montgomery County Councilman Evan Glass commented on the post.
Other Sunflower graduates have gone on to work at specialty bakeries, ice cream shops and chocolatiers, supermarkets, catering and food service companies, coffee shops, country clubs and restaurants.
Sunflower Bakery partners with various local food and hospitality establishments, including Wegmans, District Doughnut, Carmen’s Italian Ice & Cafe, Harris Teeter, Nothing Bundt Cakes, The Pretzel Bakery and Adventist HealthCare.
The social media post encouraged the community to support businesses such as Wegmans that use inclusive hiring practices and create employment for people of all abilities.
Sunflower Bakery is holding an open house on Oct. 22 for community members to meet instructors and staff and see students in action.
Earlier this week, Sunflower Bakery was awarded a grant through Adventist HealthCare’s Community Partnership Fund to benefit the bakery’s workforce development training programs and job services.
