John 3:16 Mission’s Beloved Bakery for those experiencing homelessness, seeking jobs

February 15, 2023 at 9:12 pm CST

TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa’s John 3:16 Mission has a bakery for those experiencing homelessness, seeking jobs.

“So, one of the focuses of the mission is to start day one of when women and men come into our programming, starting to talk to them about their jobs whenever they exit,” said Megan Thomson, women’s ministry director and job readiness coordinator. “We’re working with them for the year that they’re in our programming on getting ready to go back to work and so, having social enterprises, real life businesses, that they can participate and engage in really helps prepare them to go back to work whenever the time comes for them to do that.”

Thomson said they opened Beloved Baking to remind those in their program they have gifts and talents the community needs.

“It goes much farther beyond making cakes and cookies, but it’s just a reminder that we can learn how to do new things, we can be creative in our work skills and that anything is possible when it comes to going back to work,” Thomson said.

The employees bake cookies, cakes and during Valentine’s Day, prepared a lot of chocolate strawberries, she said.

“We wanna keep growing what we’re doing with Be Loved Baking,” Thomson said. “The only way that any of this is possible is just the Tulsa community getting behind the men and women that are working really hard to get their lives back together. So any purchases in any support of our businesses here go directly back into the programming at the mission and helping them in the recovery journey.”