MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis bakery is teaching more than baking skills to children who are at-risk. They are giving hope of rehabilitation for kids who have been in trouble with the law.
“What we have found in our business is that life is hard. But one of our biggest goals here is to make life sweeter every day. And it doesn’t take very much. It can be a smile. It can be a treat,” said Lauren Wilson Young, owner of Sweet Lala’s Bakery.
Sweet Lala’s Bakery in East Memphis began as a home-based business. Now you can find the sweet treats at the store off Poplar or at many local groceries.
“Sweet Lala’s Bakery is a place that we created to have gathering for families, for community members. It originated in a cookie business,” said Lauren.
But what started with cookies grew into more.
“We started this cookie business for a reason of making sure that kids had an opportunity and second chances for work. We found out about the program called JIFF, which is a Juvenile Intervention Faith-based Follow-up Program,” said Lauren. “And at the time, back in 2014 we partnered for JIFF with employment. So, we found out that kids that were coming out of juvenile court needed opportunities. And we thought, teach kids a trade.”
“I actually came from the JIFF Program,” said John Young, one of the bakery’s employees. “And that was just a way of growing into leadership, giving the kids the next step in life. Me becoming somewhat of a mentor to the younger kids that was coming through there. Telling them, ‘Hey, look. I’ve went through what you’re going through. Now look at me. I’m on the other side of things. And I know it’s a long, slow process. But trust me, it does pay off.’”
John has been with the program about eight years.
“I love working here so much. It’s kind of hard to put it into words, because my job is to do all the creative things with the cookies. I get to interact with the customers. so, I’m like right in the middle of all the action. There’s never a dull moment in my area,” said John.
And at Sweet Lala’s, Memphis is key.
“One of the things we decided to do in the store was organize our store around Memphis products, Mission-made products and then products made from the south. One of my favorite things is I have been working with Re-New-All Candles. They support directly A Way Out Ministries. We have My Cup Of Tea, who supports women in the Orange Mound community. We have Shepherd's Haven, who does a fabulous job of painting pieces, and makes beautiful art come to life. And they are a day and resident program for individuals with disabilities,” said Lauren.
“A lot of people don’t know about this bakery. They don’t know about the message. They don’t know about the people we help, the people we have helped, the people we planning on helping,” said John. “A lot of people look at it and they just see cookies. No, it’s a lot more than cookies. It will actually have a message attached to it. We actually break down barriers with these cookies. We actually change lives with these cookies.”
“One of the things we think the shelves do is help tell a bigger story for the change in Memphis,” said Lauren.
“We always try to sprinkle a little bit of sweetness, cheer, laughter… just a little bit of positivity into it,” said John.