December 29, 2024
RISE UP VILLAGE BAKERY NEWSLETTER
New Year’s greetings to all our friends and supporters of the Rise Up Village Bakery. Please take a few moments to journey with us as we review the three years since we began planning this project in the fall of 2021.
For five years, Marty was a volunteer chaplain at the Clinton County Prison. He quickly learned that securing employment is one of the greatest barriers to successful re-entry after incarceration. His research led him to several programs that used a bakery training program as a model for helping ex-offenders to develop job and social skills. An idea was born: combine his passion for baking bread with the desire to help returning citizens.
It was a crazy dream. How do a retired guidance counselor and his wife, a retired special education teacher, start a bakery? You quit talking and planning and just do it! Marty approached Tammey, the director of the United Churches, and was given permission to work under their umbrella. Armed with a few bread pans, a friend, and the guidance of a retired PCT instructor, the Rise Up Village Bakery was born in March 2022. We rented the kitchen in the New Covenant United Church of Christ and began testing recipes. Our first “customers” were neighbors and friends—we had to do something with our products.
In May, after practicing our baking skills and canvassing agencies for candidates, we accepted our first two “trainees.” Those early months were a time of challenges and growth. New volunteers found us, and trainees came and left—some for jobs, some for more prison time. The news about this endeavor spread and we began to develop a list of supporters who were interested in buying our bread. Soon we were adding rolls, then cookies and muffins. There is no limit to what our bakers are willing to try!
In the fall of 2022, the United Churches of Lycoming County accepted the Rise Up Village Bakery as an official ministry of their organization. This allows us to be part of their non-profit status. Their accountant reviews all the expenses and income and we are accountable to the UCLC board of directors.
Wait, who is keeping track of all of this? What ingredients do we need? Where do we buy our supplies and equipment? We need email addresses, an ordering system, and record keeping for money going out and coming in. The recipes have to be expanded and standardized. Slowly Marty and I became managers of a business as well as a training program. Marty worked in the
kitchen and did recruitment of trainees and supporters, while I handled the paperwork and procured supplies and inventory.
Fast forward from spring of 2022 to December 2024. We now have over 300 people receiving weekly notices of our baking schedule! Last week, we took pre-orders from 50 customers. Our volunteer crew has grown to 13 and we currently have four trainees. The income from our product sales and donations has allowed us to provide a small stipend for our trainees and to meet our expenses.
What do we dream and plan for the future? With great excitement, we announce the hiring of our first Rise Up Village Bakery Coordinator. A former trainee “graduate” will assist with the daily operations and with the development of a computer based management system. He will be working closely with the volunteer who does our graphic work to develop a website and an online ordering platform. Our goal has been to assist trainees in developing the skills necessary to become self-supporting. How gratifying it is that our first employee is someone who spent 18 months in our kitchen AND is skilled in computer systems! The perfect blend for the position and a role model for our trainees.
Our goal for 2025 is to expand our customer pool to include orders from businesses. For example, we would provide baked goods for office and company needs such as office “treats” or for special events. By purchasing products from us, the business would be supporting a meaningful cause while receiving fresh, locally made bakery items. Please spread this information to anyone who might be interested.
One last news item: we are raising our per package price for pre-ordered baked goods to $6. There will be bulk order pricing, depending upon the volume and product. We have been on the low end of pricing for fresh “baked from scratch” items. As our costs increase for ingredients, packaging, rent, and trainee support stipends, we feel the increase is necessary. All income goes directly towards the operation of the program.
We hope this snapshot of our 3-year journey gives you an idea of what has been happening behind the scenes. It has been a time of dreams becoming reality while also a time of disappointments when things go wrong. We have built a family of trainees and volunteers as we work and laugh together. We celebrate the triumphs and support one another through the struggles. We are friends. When we look at where we began—with nothing but a few bread pans and a vision—our hearts are filled with gratitude and awe. Prayers, hard work, deep breaths, and the faith that God is leading us keeps us going forward. We could never have done it without the support of the Village. Thank you for coming along on this journey.

-Marty and Wendy