Create Hope, Change Lives, and Celebrate Community

Meaning, Purpose, Goals, Community, Hope, Resilience. These are all values that humans need. Many adults build their confidence, share our identities, and create community in many different ways, including through work. When an acquired brain injury strikes unexpectedly (from a fall, car crash, sporting injury, stroke, heart attack, brain tumor, or many other causes), a person's life is turned upside down in an instant -- and so are the lives of family, friends, care partners, and local communities who support each brain injury survivor.

Brain injury creates many challenges, including difficulties with walking, talking, eating, processing the world through vision, hearing, and balance, difficulties with emotional regulation, challenges with memory and concentration, difficulties recognizing one's own challenges, and difficulties maintaining relationships. Problems with memory, difficulties returning to work, and social isolation are the most often reported challenges facing adults living with chronic brain injury. Medical rehabilitation ends, and survivors, families, and communities are left to rebuild a life with purpose and meaning with few resources.

Luckily, there is hope. At Sarah Bellum's Bakery & Workshop in Portland, OR (USA), we create a safe and supportive environment where adults with brain injury can gather, re-engage in the community, build relationships, develop awareness, build job-skills, gain confidence, and start to re-build a life with meaning and purpose. Our strength-based program focuses on what each individual CAN do, adapts the job and kitchen to foster success, and offers structured training to build new skills, foster independence, and grow resilience. Our program provides return to work and community engagement opportunities for about 50 adults with brain injury at any given time. Participants learn transferable job skills, gain confidence, experience success, build relationships, and redefine a life with purpose through baking and selling amazing cupcakes and other treats in our bakery.

We invite you to join our amazing community of supporters. Each donation helps us sustain program operations and grow as we celebrate our 6th year of operating and Changing Lives One Cupcake at a Time!