Bread Angels of Tempe: Home Bakers for the Hungry
RISE & SHINE Bread is a new volunteer project in Tempe that provides delicious home-baked bread for the food insecure in the community. These wholesome loaves offer satisfying nourishment in a uniquely personal way to individuals and families who are unsheltered, at risk or struggling to make ends meet.
Andrea White is the founder of Rise & Shine. She was inspired by a project in Seattle called Community Loaves, which has a similar program of home baking for those in need. The Seattle project has grown throughout the region and spread into Oregon. When Community Loaves told Andrea that they could not expand their program to Arizona, she decided to set one up herself.
She joined forces with Michael Hodgins, director of sustainable food systems at Rio Salado Community College’s Café Rio. Together with colleagues Ken Ballas and Dominic Romero, they developed a recipe for an oat and whole-wheat roll, baked as a foursome in a standard loaf pan. The mini loaves make an ample serving for an individual meal and can be tucked into a backpack.
The starter is slow fermented, giving the bread an exceptional artisanal flavor. With a clear recipe and a video tutorial, it is a bread that home bakers can easily learn and consistently produce.
Falling under the Arizona Department of Health Cottage Food Program, this bread can be baked in a home kitchen by any volunteer. The baker buys three bread loaf pans, an instant-read thermometer, the ingredients and a scale for weighing them.
Rise & Shine provides the recipe, bags, ties and labels to indicate the name of the baker. The recipe makes a batch of 12 rolls/mini-loaves, 10 of which are donated, two of which bakers can keep for themselves if desired. People can bake as often as they like. Most people bake once or twice a month. Bakers may request reimbursement for materials and for ingredients, if needed, after baking five times for the program.
Bakers take their loaves to a drop-off location where volunteer drivers pick them up and deliver them to the Tempe Community Action Agency (TCAA) pantry, churches or other points of distribution.
Since December, some bakers have begun baking full-size loaves. As the Rise & Shine Bread program develops, there are also plans to make a gluten-free bread, and perhaps a sweet holiday bread for Christmas and Easter.
The program currently has 20 volunteers. Once Rise & Shine builds its baking force, they hope to be able to distribute 50 little loaves and 50 large loaves per week.
More bakers are needed, White says. “The program can grow exponentially—the only limiting factor is the number of bakers. We hope the program can spread to other communities in the Valley of the Sun.”
Collaborators for distribution include the food pantry at TCAA mentioned above and neighborhood churches participating in I-HELP (Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program). This program offers an overnight shelter and a hot meal to those who register for it. University Presbyterian Church serves as Rise & Shine’s fiscal sponsor.
Recently, The University Presbyterian Church hosted “Project Connect,” a community event that offers a wide variety of services to homeless individuals and families, who are called guests. Services include help securing government benefits, legal assistance, employment counseling, behavioral health, medical checks and help accessing vital records such as birth certificates. Guests are also able to obtain clothing, get haircuts, take showers, do laundry and receive food, including the homemade bread.
Rise & Shine bread adds a heartwarming touch of pleasure and nourishing comfort to those who come for these services.Founder White says the rewards she gains from participating in the program are immeasurable. “One of the men in the I-HELP program opened his loaf, smelled the fresh bread, smiled and said to me, ‘You are the bread angels.’”
Get Baking
For more information, or to sign up to bake, volunteer or donate, visit riseshinebread.org or call 480-580-3021.
