Spreading the gift of BREAD to honor our heroes and help those in need
United States of America (Press Release) March 12, 2008 --
BOSTON: There's something about bread that unites, defines and inspires. So on Friday, April 11th, the international, grassroots bread-giving organization, Spread the Bread is asking businesses, small and large, from "sea to shining sea," to encourage their employees to bring a favorite bread to work that day to be spread for others. It’s simple. Breads can be baked or bought and tied with a note of hope, inspiration or gratitude. Then, co-workers decide as a united group where and to whom to spread their bread in the local community. The only string attached; the bread offering should honor a hero or help someone in need.
"This is such a simple and powerful way to team build and to use the gift of bread to have an important conversation about the community and its heroes and needs," said Karen Kiefer, Co-Founder of Spread the Bread. This bread-giving concept began a decade ago when Kiefer began baking her mother's Irish Bread with her young daughters. They baked so much that it seemed natural to spread the bread to local neighbors and friends as a gesture to "celebrate the goodness of the day." Their bread mission expanded to area senior centers and shelters and then became a community-wide program after September 11th, when schools, churches, families and friends from their Wayland, Massachusetts community began baking a favorite bread and attaching artwork, poems and notes of inspiration, hope and thanks, and spreading those breads to honor local firefighters, policemen and postal workers during the Anthrax scare. The breads were also delivered to local nursing homes, senior centers, food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters. The cause quickly became contagious.
The Spread the Bread organization, which recently became and official 501 9c) 3, has bread groups in 48 states in the United States and in parts of Canada, South Korea, Japan, France, Australia, Africa and growing each day, with millions of breads now spread with significance.
A Spread the Biscuits program for our animal heroes and animals in need was created in 2007. As a result, for the first time the organization will recognize Saturday, April 12, 2008 as World Spread the Bread Day. "Take Your Bread to Work Day" is a natural extension of this day to celebrate bread by honoring heroes and defining need, knowing that so many more breads could be spread by that Saturday if they were brought to the workplace on the Friday before.
The need is great. Food pantries/banks and soup kitchens are seeing a 20 percent to 40 percent increase in the numbers of people who need help putting food on their tables and a smile on their faces due to rising food and heating oil prices, the higher costs of gasoline and medicine, and the mortgage crisis putting a squeeze on their household budgets. It’s also easy in our fast-paced world to forget to take the time to thank our local veterans, soldiers, police, firefighters, coaches and teachers. A simple bread basket or box placed in the lobby of an office could yield loaves and loaves of bread with messages sure to invoke a smile by the recipients.
The “Take Your Bread to Work Day” program makes it easy for businesses to “bake a difference” overnight. By spreading the word, employees can easily spread the bread to their surrounding community. Businesses interested in participating in this bread-spreading effort can visit the Spread the Bread website at www.spreadthebread.org and download a free World Spread the Bread Day Starter Kit, filled with ideas, bread labels and resources. "Through memory, tradition, culture or taste, everyone has favorite bread," said Kiefer, "What a great reason to bake that bread and then take it to work to be spread for others."
For more information, please contact Karen Kiefer at Spread the Bread (774-286-9987) or Send an e-mail to: info@spreadthebread.org
"This is such a simple and powerful way to team build and to use the gift of bread to have an important conversation about the community and its heroes and needs," said Karen Kiefer, Co-Founder of Spread the Bread. This bread-giving concept began a decade ago when Kiefer began baking her mother's Irish Bread with her young daughters. They baked so much that it seemed natural to spread the bread to local neighbors and friends as a gesture to "celebrate the goodness of the day." Their bread mission expanded to area senior centers and shelters and then became a community-wide program after September 11th, when schools, churches, families and friends from their Wayland, Massachusetts community began baking a favorite bread and attaching artwork, poems and notes of inspiration, hope and thanks, and spreading those breads to honor local firefighters, policemen and postal workers during the Anthrax scare. The breads were also delivered to local nursing homes, senior centers, food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters. The cause quickly became contagious.
The Spread the Bread organization, which recently became and official 501 9c) 3, has bread groups in 48 states in the United States and in parts of Canada, South Korea, Japan, France, Australia, Africa and growing each day, with millions of breads now spread with significance.
A Spread the Biscuits program for our animal heroes and animals in need was created in 2007. As a result, for the first time the organization will recognize Saturday, April 12, 2008 as World Spread the Bread Day. "Take Your Bread to Work Day" is a natural extension of this day to celebrate bread by honoring heroes and defining need, knowing that so many more breads could be spread by that Saturday if they were brought to the workplace on the Friday before.
The need is great. Food pantries/banks and soup kitchens are seeing a 20 percent to 40 percent increase in the numbers of people who need help putting food on their tables and a smile on their faces due to rising food and heating oil prices, the higher costs of gasoline and medicine, and the mortgage crisis putting a squeeze on their household budgets. It’s also easy in our fast-paced world to forget to take the time to thank our local veterans, soldiers, police, firefighters, coaches and teachers. A simple bread basket or box placed in the lobby of an office could yield loaves and loaves of bread with messages sure to invoke a smile by the recipients.
The “Take Your Bread to Work Day” program makes it easy for businesses to “bake a difference” overnight. By spreading the word, employees can easily spread the bread to their surrounding community. Businesses interested in participating in this bread-spreading effort can visit the Spread the Bread website at www.spreadthebread.org and download a free World Spread the Bread Day Starter Kit, filled with ideas, bread labels and resources. "Through memory, tradition, culture or taste, everyone has favorite bread," said Kiefer, "What a great reason to bake that bread and then take it to work to be spread for others."
For more information, please contact Karen Kiefer at Spread the Bread (774-286-9987) or Send an e-mail to: info@spreadthebread.org
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