Friday Night Baking at the Women's Intake House!

Staff members Erin D and Aly L love to bake. On Friday nights Erin supervises the women’s intake house and Aly is active as an "on call" staff member.  They use this opportunity to  bake with the girls in the residential houses. Erin and Aly both bring their secret ingredients to work with them to create mouth watering delights.

Erin and Aly believe that getting the girls involved in baking with them is a win/win situation. It gets the girls involved in a great clean and sober activity.  Not only do the women learn to bake and they all get to share in the treats as soon as they pop out of the oven. The girls participate in many different ways. Some girls jump in and help in the preparations, some simply join in the conversation and camaraderie and others just wait hungrily until it gets out of the oven.

Fellowship in the Recovery Setting

It is really nice to see our staff getting along so well with the clients. Erin and Aly both are young in age but have a good solid foundation in their sobriety. I believe some of the young clients look up to them and really “want what they have” and the more mature clients have a fond respect for them getting sober and being responsible at such a young age. Erin says that she feels really good about bake night and it makes her happy to see others enjoying themselves. Aly enjoys the family-like atmosphere created by bake night and that it helps the clients to feel at ease with the staff. 

Being that I am in  Operations Management,  I must look out for the client’s well being and have had to officially sample these savory baked goods.

I must admit that each and every sample has passed inspection which is really no surprise. They have baked items such as Apple Pie, Chocolate-Chip brownies (yum), Pumpkin Pie, Rice Crispy Treats and something called Puppy Chow. Since they started this venture I have given up going near a scale but it is worth it when you see all the smiling faces on Friday night.
- by Jay Rau.