Profits from Eston's bakery go towards Village of Hope
By Joan Janzen
There's a new bakery in Eston, but it's also a non-profit organization. All the profits from the Village of Hope Bakery go towards operating costs for the Village of Hope facility where the bakery is located. Their building is the former Eston Bible College, where the bakery operates in the kitchen area. Village of Hope is a drug and alcohol regeneration outlet that offers a ten-month Christian-based program dedicated to helping men and women aged 18 years and older overcome drug and alcohol addictions.
Alex Visscher is the baker at Village of Hope Bakery in Eston. All profits from this non-profit organization go towards supporting the Village of Hope drug and alcohol regeneration facility.
Alex Visscher is the baker and has a wealth of baking experience. "I'm 62 years old and have been a baker since I was 17," he said. "It provided an income for my family for many years." Alex retired from baking to pursue other ventures for several years. "But this caught my attention, and I felt called to get back into the baking industry," he said.
Not only does Alex bring years of expertise to the bakery, but his posting is a volunteer position and a labour of love. "It's a big commitment, but hopefully, it's going to make a big change in men's and women's lives. Cause, as you know, addiction is a common thing nowadays."
The bakery has been operating since October. "We have the bakery area in construction as we speak. The men are involved in the construction of counters and working on the cafe section," Alex explained. The bakery will be located in the former college library.
"We're at the grassroots level right now," he said. Although they're relatively busy, he said business will definitely pick up when they have a cafe set up and an actual bakery site where customers can shop. "Our bakery equipment isn't set up yet; we're using the large industrial kitchen ovens right now," he explained.
Alex is assisted by men who are in the program who volunteer after they're done with their classes for the day. They help with some production and package the bakery products.
The local arena is purchasing hamburger buns from the bakery. However, Alex said they haven't pursued efforts to provide baking for businesses. "We don't have the production facilities to satisfy that demand right now," he said. "But we take orders. We haven't had an order yet that we can't fill."
Eston's bakery is also helping out another non-profit organization by donating all their day-old baking to FoodMesh in Kindersley. "FoodMesh also purchases bread from us every two weeks, and we save up all the day-old baking for them," Alex explained. "We have enough volunteers, so we've been able to deliver the baking to Kindersley once a week. It's been a wonderful experience working with FoodMesh."
Alex claims they're on the ground floor level when it comes to baking, but they provide a wide assortment of products. Everything from bread, buns, cheese sticks, pepperoni cheese sticks, cookies and muffins come out of their oven daily.
"The pumpkin muffins with cream cheese icing have been successful so far," he confessed. "Unfortunately, I've only so many hours in a day, and everything is homemade and fresh."
So stop at the bakery at 730 - 1st St. SE in Eston and say hello to Alex. Not only is the baking delicious, but all the proceeds are helping support efforts to free people from addictions.