Happy Flour Bakery in Dallas empowers students with disabilities from inside school cafeteria
DALLAS — There's a new bakery in Uptown Dallas, and if you drove by you might not even know it was there.
It's nestled inside the Notre Dame School of Dallas, a Catholic school dedicated to students with disabilities and teaching them to become independent.
Meredith Pace has been part of the staff for 14 years.
"It's just the most joyful, happy job. I think that shows how much I love what I do; it's just a special place," she said.
Combining her love of baking with her desire to help students, she started an after-school cookie club called "Happy Flour."
"Since I was little, I remember standing on a stool with a mixer in my hand and not even being able to reach the counter," she said.
What began as a small group of 10 students learning to measure, mix, and roll dough quickly grew into a bustling bakery operation.
"Within two weeks, it was like... people were placing a lot of orders; it kind of became a business," Pace said.
The popularity of Happy Flour spread through word of mouth, and the bakery inside the cafeteria walls officially became a business.
Pace recently hired her first part-time employee with special needs, Casey O'Brien.
"I felt happy and excited," O'Brien said. "I like to bake chocolate chip cookies because they are my favorite."
As part of the school's curriculum, students are required to hold jobs at various local businesses, including partnerships with Fuzzy's and the Perot Museum.
Happy Flour has now joined this lineup, offering students a new opportunity to gain valuable work experience.
With 20 members now in the club, Pace hopes this is just the beginning. She currently takes orders online and dreams of opening a storefront in the future.
"It's something that's fun, secondly, yummy, and third of all, there are so many skill sets people with special needs can learn throughout the process," she said. "I think it's important for people to see how capable our population is."