Faith-based Angel Baked Cookies is now accepting applications for high school students 16-19 years old who are “willing to work and willing to learn,” said Gary Meier, executive director of Angel Baked Cookies and North Grand Neighborhood Services.
“We’re looking to hire seven or eight kids in the coming weeks,” he said.
As a social enterprise program of North Grand Neighborhood Services, a local non-profit organization committed to the just development of the community, Angel Baked aims to “provide employment to youth in the area and to help them grow personally, spiritually and professionally,” said Meier.
Meier said he was inspired to start the program back in 2007 after listening to the concerns of area youth.
“When I was pastor of Saints Teresa and Bridget Church, we started lock-in meetings with neighbors, and during one of the meetings a bunch of kids showed up,” he said. “At some point during the course of that meeting, I asked them, ‘What do we need to do to make this a better community for you?’ and they all said, ‘Jobs.’ These kids were only 13 to 16 years of age.”
That eye-opening experience made him want to do something about the lack of employment opportunities for young St. Louisans.
“It all started out of that lock-in meeting. In this community and in this area, there are so few places for adults to have employment, let alone teenagers.” he said.
“I first hired three teenagers, and we started baking cookies and giving them away at the events we could get into. We were doing that out of our kitchen. So it grew from that into 15 employees and 1,500 cookies per week.”
Because half of its employees recently graduated, Angel Baked is now looking for bright, motivated students looking to develop a strong work ethic while completing their high school education.
Once hired, students contribute to the small business process and attend professional skills workshops to help them pursue higher education and long-term success.
“It’s more than just a job,” he said. “On the surface, they get a paycheck and they learn to make cookies, but we’re more than that. We also do workshops on communication and professional and spiritual development.”
Since it began, Angel Baked has had a 100 percent high school graduation rate for all participants, and 85 percent of them have continued on to higher education.
The program has also deeply impacted the lives of community members.
“The community is very much aware of Angel Baked Cookies,” Meier said. “A lot of the neighbors that come to the lock-in meetings have kids who have worked at Angel Baked over the years. The community is proud of it, and the kids are proud of it.”
True to its name, Angel Baked calls all of its employees “angels” because of their commitment to spiritual growth and personal excellence.
“There is something to be said about the fact that we refer to all of our employees as angels,” Meier said. “It’s a whole different attitude from what they oftentimes encounter.”
Meier wants Angel Baked to expand to more areas soon in order to increase its number of employees.
“We’re open to new retail partners,” he said. “The more markets we get into, the more regions and locations we reach, the more cookies we sell, the more kids we’ll be able to hire.”
Interested applicants should go to angelbaked.org/careers.html and download an application. For more info on Angel Baked Cookies, call 314-449-1821 or visit angelbaked.org .
