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State Fair Mini Donuts got a call from a woman name Emily looking to order mini donuts and a machine to use at a coffee shop called the Daily Grind. When we took her order, and heard about the special place where she worked, we wanted to tell her story!

Emily Westfall is a teacher-coordinator at the Caledonia Transition Program. This 2-year program in Caledonia, Michigan helps special needs young adults, age 18-26, transition from high school to independent, inclusive, and productive lives in the community. The Program’s 13 students operate The Daily Grind coffee shop in Duncan Lake Middle School (Home of the Fighting Scots!) to learn skills that will help them land jobs in the community, you can learn more if you visit this website.

At the Daily Grind, the students learn to take orders, make products, wait on the public, and maintain a clean work space. These seemingly simple tasks are geared to teach the students organization skills, problem solving, stress management, scheduling, working in a team environment, confidence, overcoming fears, and it gives them sense of accomplishment.

The students in the middle school that shares a campus with The Daily Grind, make up a large part of the customers. The coffee shop’s management had been ordering regular donuts from a local bakery with advanced notice of a class visit. They found they ended up with too much waste if the children didn’t order the product. They needed a better solution.

Emily happed to be with her family at a fall festival at a garden center and found our State Fair Mini Donuts being served. She realized that this was the perfect product for the coffee shop. The premade (and delicious) mini donuts could be stored in the freezer and a small amount could be taken out at a time, run thru the mini donut oven and come out hot and fresh for the customers. The mini donut oven could also become a teaching tool for the students. Emily wrote and received a grant from the Caledonia Education Foundation then gave us a call. The oven and mini donuts arrived and they were a huge hit.

They also found out that this portable machine was also a great fund and awareness raising tool for their program. They set up a to go station at the Mary Free Bed YMCA and just recently made a splash at the Caledonia Chamber of Commerce Expo. This latest event allowed to students to network with local businesses to show off their talents. The donuts were a big hit too.

We’re so very proud that this amazing program was able to use our product to help their students learn new skills.