Sarah Bellum’s Bakery & Workshop

About

Social enterprise cupcake specialty bakery supporting adults with brain injury in work opportunities. Visit us in Multnomah Village in SW Portland, OR.

Story

Sarah Bellum's Bakery & Workshop is a social enterprise bakery that supports adults with brain injury to return to work and fun by baking delicious, hand-crafted cupcakes. Sarah Bellum's was founded by Dr. Rik Lemoncello, Associate Professor of Speech-Language Pathology at Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR. As an avid self-taught baker and a clinician/researcher interested in supporting adults with brain injuries, he has dreamed out opening this bakery since earning his PhD in 2008. His vision has been to open a bakery fully staffed by adults with brain injury to support them in return to work, play, and life! Through his involvement with the local (Portland, OR) brain injury community, and a generous grant award from Pacific University, this program is finally ready to launch in summer 2017!

In the summer of 2017, we will begin baking and selling once weekly. Four bakers with brain injury will each make several dozen cupcakes, including preparation, baking, and decorating, at a commercial rental kitchen in downtown Portland. The bakers will then take their product to the OHSU Farmer's Market at the Oregon Health Sciences University ("on the hill") in Portland to sell them on Tuesdays in June, July, and August. Each baker will be supervised and coached by a graduate student in the Pacific University speech-language pathology master's program while Dr. Lemoncello oversees the entire program.

The goal is to assist adults with brain injury to develop job-ready skills in the bakery workshop and communication skills at the market to assist with their rehabilitation in a functional setting. In addition, students in the speech-language pathology program will learn through direct experience how brain injury can affect a person's work and communication skills while developing individualized rehabilitation programs to support maximal participation. And, let's not forget the main goal... to deliver outstanding cupcakes to you!!!!

This not-for-profit bakery is a program of Brain Injury Connections Northwest (BIC-NW). BIC-NW is a non-profit organization in the Portland, OR metro region that offers support groups, social outings and activities, referral, resources, and compassion for those touched by brain injury.

Please stop by the market this summer to taste our cupcakes -- each one is made with love. Thank you!

Mission

Creating and nurturing return-to-work opportunities for adults with acquired brain injury.

Products

Offering a variety of hand-crafted cupcakes, baked with love by adults with brain injury using quality, organic ingredients. We are a peanut-free, soy-free kitchen, and we use no artificial dyes. We also offer gluten-free/vegan options. Regular and mini sized cupcakes available. Stop in to see our daily selection of flavors.