Well hello there!

I’ve been in full-on recovery mode since the Christmas baking frenzy. The holidays were a bit of a doozy. I crashed hard and got sick 🤒😴

I guess I should have known that powering through the holiday season, in the name of cookies, would catch up with me eventually.

I’ve been lucky to have a pretty chill January so far. I’ve had a few special orders, but nothing too crazy. Mostly working on rebuilding my frozen dough inventory and my baking stamina!

In the interest of catching my breath, I’m taking January off of pop-ups. However, I do have a different sort of special event to tell you about. And it’s coming up soon…

An important Hays-Tremonte family value is to be in and of our community. As such, my husband, Chris has been organizing monthly community clean up events.

He started these events five years ago. Having sprung from community meetings in the wake of a series of gun violence incidents in the neighborhood. The community cleanup events are an effort to bring neighbors together, to get to know one another, to enliven our public spaces and take pride in our community.

The location of the litter pickup rotates between three local spots (Powell Barnett Park, Pratt Park and Temple Pastries). Chris provides trash pickers, bags, gloves, and anything else volunteers need to get the job done.

Our buddies at Broadcast coffee and Temple Pastries generously fuel our volunteers with donated coffee and pastries. Seriously, volunteers, DO NOT sleep on these treats, they are truly some of the very best in the city 🥐☕️. We are incredibly fortunate to have their support.

This year I’ll also be augmenting the treat stash with Tremonte’s cookies (crossover alert!).

While Chris organizes cleanup events nearly every month (usually with a break during Nov/Dec), the Martin Luther King Day event is, by far, the biggest of the year (nearly 100 participants in 2023!). And for good reason. It’s a great opportunity to give back to the community on a day of reflection, purpose and action. Powell Barnett Park is also conveniently located just a few short blocks from (my alma mater) Garfield High School, where the annual MLK Day rally and march is held.

Community service events are a small (but worthwhile) step forward in our society where systems of racial and socioeconomic inequity and oppression persist. On MLK Day (and every day!) we are grateful for the accomplishments of our country’s civil rights leaders, past and present. We strive to honor Dr. King, his life, his legacy, and yes, his dream.

Join us in celebrating MLK Day this year:

Powell Barnett Park, Monday, January 15th, 10am-12pm.

See you there!