From Prison to Bakery: This Program Is Undeniably Giving Women New Life

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Patty Hunt is enjoying learning her way around the kitchen at the bakery she works at in Alexandria. It's a place that represents a new start for Hunt, after her time in jail.

"Being here has helped me to realize that I can go back out and make something of myself," Hunt said.

Helping women like Patty is the goal of an organization called Together We Bake, which seeks to empower women with the tools they need for a second chance after prison.

Just over three years ago, Stephanie Wright, a former social worker and her friend Tricia Sabatini started the bakery.

Seeing a Need

"We knew there were a lot of women in need in our area, so started doing lots of research, talking to lots of people about what our community was missing and we realized that women really needed job training and support," Wright told CBN News.

"They just needed to know that someone cared," she said.

The program provides hands-on training and personal development to give women experience toward future employment in the food service and hospitality industry.

"They spend a lot of time in the first part of the program in the kitchen, learn all about food production, food safety. They get their Serve Safe certificate," Wright explained.

A few of the sweet treats the women make include all natural apple chips, cinnamon pecan granola, and delicious chocolate chip cookies.  

A Recipe for Empowerment 

Shannon Gray-Chappell doesn't have a criminal past but enjoys taking part in the program.

"Everything has a process," Gray-Chappell said. "I learned about the measurements and what goes into the cookies and the packaging."

"I didn't realize that when you weigh things and it's proportioned just to make the product perfect," she said.

While baking is the key way that the women enrolled at Together We Bake are empowered, the ladies also learn recipes for success for outside the kitchen.

Coaching classes help the women take on challenges such as finding work, building self-confidence, and dealing with family problems. 

"They learn about communication, conflict resolution, goal setting, all those things that really are necessary in life. And through all of that they develop the confidence that they need to believe in themselves to complete something," Wright said.

"A lot of the women will say, 'I've never followed through and completed anything. I start a lot of things.' So when they graduate they feel so proud and really believe, 'I can do anything I put my mind to.'"

Stopping a Vicious Cycle

Kim Christian has spent the last 20 years of her life in and out of prison for drugs and shoplifting. Being enrolled in the baking program is making a huge difference in her life.

"I have to stop this vicious cycle that I've been in and this program is helping me get myself together, like to be in society to live normal," Christian said.

Local markets, including Whole Foods, carry the fresh baked goods that helps to foster pride and accomplishment in the women. 

"I never thought in a million years that I'd be putting cookies on the shelf in a store to be sold," Hunt said. 

"When we went to Whole Foods it was so good to see our 'lil shiny bags on the shelf, the granola we packaged, the apple chips we packaged. And I'd never seen what we had in the store until I went there. The red bag stands out; our label stands out," Christian said.

More than 80 women have graduated from the program, which boasts a recidivism rate of just 8 percent.

"About 60 percent of the women are employed, which is great," Wright said. "One of our recent grads from about a year ago, she started her own baking business."

In the end, the women are empowered with knowledge and skills, along with the hope of a better future.

"It's almost like I'm giving back something, giving back to the community from all the wrong that I've done," Christian said. "Second, third, fourth chance for me...and I thank God for it."