Last Christmas, while walking through Haywood Mall, I stopped in my tracks when I spotted a kiosk filled with the most beautiful pastries and desserts. They were so stunning that I had to get a closer look.
A few months later, I received an email from Jason Richards, an FBG church member. Jason had gotten to know a young Ukrainian refugee couple, Andrii and Anna Gnatiuk, owners of A&A Croissant, the very bakery I had admired at the mall!
They were looking to expand their business and needed access to a commercial kitchen. Jason wondered if we might consider renting them space in ours.
Since I arrived, one of my goals has been to find more ways to use our facilities to serve our community while also generating rental income to help offset the cost of maintaining our large campus. This seemed like a wonderful mission-aligned opportunity.
Jenna Manning, our Director of Church Operations and the Property Committee explored the idea. Before long everything fell into place. Andrii and Anna are now using our kitchen around 20 hours a week to create the same beautiful desserts that first caught my eye. Isn’t it remarkable how God brings people and opportunities together? We are happy to provide the space at about half the going rate for commercial kitchen rentals; what a gift to use the resources God has entrusted to us to help a hardworking refugee family build their business!
Carol McEntyre, Senior Minister