Baking has always been in her blood and when the chance to bake for a good cause came along, Ms Juliana Ellard grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
She has lived in Secunda for more than 25 years and like many residents, she loves the town and would not dream of moving away.
One of the anchors keeping her in town, is the work done by the Kristopher Ryan Centre and the bakery connected to it.
“The Kristopher Ryan Centre works with adults and children who are intellectually impaired and provides them with a safe and stimulating environment to live in and learn.”
As a non profit organisation, the centre relies solely on donations and fundraising initiatives and all the profit that comes from the sale of baked goods goes directly towards the running of the centre.
“The bakery has been a staple in Secunda for many years and I have been a part of it on and off for the past few years.
“I used to work at the centre and when the opportunity came to move to the bakery, I was very excited about it.”
Ms Ellard explained she has always loved baking and also enjoys working with the other women in the bakery to develop recipes and work out the perfect way to decorate their work.
The bakery specialises in small biscuits and crunchies with more than 10 different recipes.
“Some of our customers’ favourites include the ginger biscuits and the old-fashioned ‘soetkoekies’ and at the moment we bake about four batches of the different biscuits each day and do most of our packing on Fridays.”
At the moment the bakery is forced to buy all their ingredients, but they hope people might help them out with donations and sponsorships.
Read the full story in the Echo.
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