A new display case will assist Sprinkles of Hope bakery with expanding its already growing business.

Co-founded by Meagan Brannon and Mary Jo Shepherd, Sprinkles of Hope is a non-profit operation providing work opportunities to area residents with disabilities. The non-profit business currently provides cupcakes and a few other baked goods for the community.

Brannon said she is wanting to expand into cake baking, but would first need a refrigerated display case.

“We have one display case, but it’s not big enough and it’s not refrigerated,” she said. “We’re starting to make cakes to order, but I want to make cakes to have already made, so people can come in and pick them up. Without a display case that’s refrigerated, that would be impossible to do.”

According to Brannon, the case she needs is about five feet long and cost around $4,000.

“We thought we would need something like that much further down the road, but business has picked up and it’s great,” she said. “I’m not complaining, because everything is going so well. We just need more places to put what we’re making.”

Brannon said a fund-raiser is currently underway on redbasket.org and will run for about another month.

“Awhile back, a man from Woodman Insurance came in and asked us what we needed,” she said. “I’d never met him before, but he wanted to help. I told him about the case and he gathered up the paperwork and helped us start the fund-raiser. We’ve raised $365 so far.”

According to Brannon, the non-profit’s first wedding cake will be made in October.

Sprinkles of Hope opened in May and currently has three employees, two volunteers, a baker and manager.

“We fund raised for three years to open this place,” Brannon said. “We went down to the entrepreneur center and talked to Mike Jackson. We took his classes and he helped us to get a business plan together. Opening a place like this was important because students with special needs are cared for in the classrooms-they have support systems, but when they age out of the school system, they no longer have that. Where do they go once they’re out of school? We wanted to offer opportunities for those kids.”

The non-profit is located on East Second Street, across from Regal.

The fund-raising page can be found by visiting https://redbasket.org/1752/sprinkles-of-hope#projectsharestory

Samantha Major and Rebecca Gosper work at Sprinkles of Hope on Friday.
https://maysville-online.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_090818-news-sprinkles-2.jpgSamantha Major and Rebecca Gosper work at Sprinkles of Hope on Friday.

Christy Howell-Hoots

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