THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508090048
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K7 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: REAL PLACES
SOURCE: BY MICHELE SNIPE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
THEY COME from near and far with visions of the Sugar Plum Bakery dancing in their heads.
Kids and grown-ups alike press their noses to the glass case and gaze at the wonderland of vanilla-frosted donuts, glazed bear claws and delicately decorated gingerbread people.
Ah, decisions, decisions.
As any sweet-toothed customer can tell you, the white purple-trimmed house on Laskin Road in Virginia Beach with the purple plum flag out front is a pretty special place.
But those sugar-glazed and fruit-filled pastries and 150 other treats are only part of the allure.
It's a place where every employee is treated with respect, everyone has a job to do, and independence and job skills are learned.
It's a place where nearly half of the more than 40 employees have Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism or some other disability.
They work as dishwashers, baker's assistants, waitresses and chefs.
``Many people think that disabled people are beneath them,'' says Raul Nieves, the bakery's operations manager. ``But working with these people you find that they have so much potential, and they're the best workers and friends you can have.''
At a staff meeting earlier in the day, employees in baker's hats and fudge-smeared aprons clapped and cheered to welcome new employees to the Sugar Plum team.
``I love the interaction with disabled co-workers,'' says supervisor Lillie M. Barrett, who's been at the bakery for seven years.
``To help them in centers would not be as beneficial as having them work where they earn money and can live independently.''
Independence is the goal that Carl and Deborah Marshall sought for their daughter when they created this oasis of sweet indulgences.
Since their daughter, Laura, 28, who is mentally retarded, was a little girl, the Marshalls have campaigned for the rights of the disabled.
When she came out of high school in the mid-1980s, there wasn't much opportunity for her.
So, the Marshalls did market studies to see what businesses could employ people like Laura.
The answer was as easy as pie. With few bakeries in Virginia Beach, Sugar Plum could provide a wide range of job skills and satisfy the area's sugar junkies.
Since opening in 1987, the non-profit bakery has been a great success, Deborah Marshall says.
``There's been tremendous community support,'' she says. And the bakery has built awareness in the community of ``what these people can do and that they are just like you and me.''
Laura, who is a baker's assistant, now lives independently.
``She lives in her own apartment, pays her own bills, pays taxes and has a social life,'' Marshall says.
Laura isn't the only success story the bakery's cooked up. Paul Roebuck, a member of the dish washing team, was termed ``unemployable'' when he came to Sugar Plum four years ago.
``He couldn't speak and he couldn't find his face with his hand,'' Marshall says. ``But you should see him now.''
As Marshall laughs, Nieves adds, ``He'll talk your ear off.''
Teamwork, says Nieves, is the key ingredient in the Sugar Plum's success. Sales are up 40 percent over the past couple of years, he says.
The Sugar Plum offers job training, transitional employment and placement for the disabled. And groups of profoundly retarded individuals join the Sugar Plum team daily to help fold boxes, place Sugar Plum stickers on the store's bags and do other simple but necessary tasks.
``Everyone needs some kind of employment - something to make them feel important in life,'' says Priscilla Thomas of Virginia Beach, a customer who sits with her 9-year-old daughter, Tasha, and her Raggedy Ann doll.
She found out about the bakery through a friend and has been in a few times because the treats are tasty and it's for a good cause, she says.
``The employees do an excellent job,'' she says as her daughter finishes her blueberry scone.
Postal worker JoAnn Little has come into the bakery twice a week for the past two years because ``the food is good and everyone is helpful and courteous,'' she says during her lunch break.
With more than 250 customers a day and a growing number of regulars, Sugar Plum is close to exceeding expectations.
``In the past couple of years, it seems like business has exploded,'' Nieves says. ``We don't have space enough to produce like we need to.''
Nieves and Marshall are exploring expansion options and may try to open other Hampton Roads locations.
After a mug of gazpacho and a loaf of bread, Little's lunch break is over.
She pulls out of the parking lot in her mail truck, as she does twice every week, licking the last of the Sugar Plum sweetness from her finger tips. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/Staff
Kelly Tucker works behind the pastry case at Sugar Plum Bakery on
Laskin Road in Virginia Beach. Nearly half of the employees at the
nonprofit business are disabled.
Carl and Deborah Marshall created this oasis of sweet indulgences in
1987.
by CNB