2024 : Breakfast in America
There are many ways to measure success in baking. You can count the layers in a croissant, the customers you serve, or the business you build. But every once in a while, you’re reminded that the greatest thing a baker can create isn’t a product—it’s a moment of kindness.
More Than Pastries: A Morning of Sharing in the Heart of Chicago
- Downtown Chicago
- Eurogerm CSR Program Beneficiary: Chicago’s homeless community
As part of Eurogerm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, I wanted to organize a simple act of giving back to the community. Together with my colleague Myles and her two daughters, Amelie and Keira, we spent the day in downtown Chicago handing out fresh pastries and hot coffee to members of the city’s homeless community.
Over the course of the morning, we prepared 50 breakfast boxes, each containing:
- One butter croissant
- One pain au chocolat
- One chocolate donut
Every box was paired with a cup of freshly brewed hot coffee!
To make sure nobody received a cold cup, I mounted a 50-cup commercial coffee urn in the back of my SUV and powered it throughout the day using a portable generator secured to the roof of the vehicle. It was a fun little engineering project, but more importantly, it meant we could serve warm coffee from the first person we met to the last.
What made the day truly special wasn’t the food—it was the conversations.
Many people simply wanted someone to acknowledge them, ask how they were doing, or listen for a few minutes. A smile, a warm pastry, and a hot coffee may seem like small things, but on a cold Chicago morning, they carried far more meaning than we often realize.
One of my favorite parts of the day was watching Amelie and Keira experience it all. They helped hand out the breakfast boxes, met people from very different walks of life, and saw firsthand how even a small act of generosity can brighten someone’s day. Those are lessons that can’t be taught in a classroom—they’re learned through compassion and action.
As a professional baker, I believe food has always been about more than nourishment. Bread has brought communities together for thousands of years. Sharing it with someone in need is one of the oldest traditions our craft has.
This experience also perfectly reflected the values behind Eurogerm’s CSR program. Supporting our communities isn’t only about large initiatives or financial donations; it’s about encouraging employees to create meaningful local impact, one project at a time.
This won’t be the last.
With Bakers Lake Bread Co., my goal is to make community outreach a permanent part of our mission. Whether it’s donating pastries to children’s hospitals, supporting local charities, or organizing future food distributions, I hope every milestone we achieve as a company becomes another opportunity to give back.
Because baking is about sharing.