By Amy Crowley | Published The Upbeat Reporter Spring 2022
Those are the words Glenda Moore uses to describe her daily life. The emotions that whirl inside her while countless volunteers traipse through her home each day are vast. In fact, during the course of this interview there were no less than four, and at times eight, volunteers in her home.
“Always vulnerable.”
Allowing oneself to have “no shame” and be “always vulnerable” are necessary traits for her to have in order to fulfill the higher calling placed on her life.
It was a warm, early-December day when I met with Glenda and some of her volunteers. Each one was bustling around the house with a specific task. One was sweeping and mopping, one organizing kitchen cabinets, two braiding edge pieces for soon-to-bake pies, and still another baking those pies.
Each one smiled graciously as they worked and described their place in this bakery. You see, Kind House Ukraine Bakery is uniquely different. “This bakery is not me – it is a huge
community effort – it is bigger than all of us,” Glenda says. This sentiment is tangibly felt the moment you walk in her front door.
After returning home from a trip to Ukraine in 2013 with Eastern European Missions, Glenda’s heart was broken. Glenda not only met orphan after orphan, but also the young Ukrainian men and women who serve the orphans by investing in their lives and helping them navigate life into adulthood. With over 100,000 orphans in Ukraine, much help is needed.
Many of these children and teens are considered “social orphans.” They remain in touch with their families, seeing them on weekends and holidays, when possible, yet on weekdays they live in orphanages in order to be fed and educated. Sadly, many of these children will repeat this pattern when they become adults. Additionally, it is estimated that greater than 80% of these orphans will prostitute, sell drugs, be imprisoned, or die before reaching the age of 25.
At the end of 2013, the Russo-Ukraine war began. Glenda was already in love with Ukraine and its people, but the war “sealed the deal.” She knew that the call to help Ukraine would be for the rest of her days.
Dmitry Pashchenko, the co-founder of Kind House, lives in one of the cities that was involved heavily in the war. He daily wrote Glenda sharing stories of buildings and lives being destroyed. It was during these moments when Glenda began to bake. She began by baking cinnamon rolls. The money she made from selling these went to Ukraine each month. Initially, baking started with a couple of Saturdays a month, then every weekend, then early each morning before heading off to work as a teacher or assistant principal, until she was baking daily from 4:00 am – 6:00 am and 5:30 pm- 10:00 pm, before and after her full-time job.
When she first began baking, it did not come easy, but then Glenda began to pray and ask God to use her baked goods to help save the people of Ukraine. As she continued in steadfast prayer, the bakery began to grow. And that growth continued as the community began to rally around her and show their support. In fact, the bakery grew so much that in 2020 Glenda left Amarillo Independent School District to work full time for the bakery. At Kind House, Glenda bakes cakes, along with many more items, and those cakes save lives. Kind House is operated with one full-time employee and over 50 volunteers. Someone in the neighborhood picks up flour and sugar and prepares cake mixes. Another picks up those
cake mixes and bakes cakes to be frozen until needed. There are church youth groups, college organizations, and many other groups who help in a variety of ways. Then there is Shona Rose and her mother Donna; they bake bread – daily. And still others who volunteer their time to work with social media, print media, and formatting the menu. It is a well-oiled machine.
Yet, this machine is different than most. When pulling up in front of this cottage-industry bakery, one will find several large baker’s racks on the front porch. Each morning the racks are lined with warm cinnamon rolls or fresh baked bread, or perhaps a cake that was ordered for a special occasion. It, too, will find its home on the racks with a name attached.
At Kind House, there are no prices for baked goods. There are no suggested dollar amounts. Each customer is encouraged to donate whatever they would like for their baked goods. A check or cash can be left in a safe by the door or there is a link to pay by card through the Kind House site. And with over 7,000 social media followers, there is sure to be an empty baker’s rack at the end of each day. However, one might also find the baker’s racks loaded
with “porch presents.” These so-called porch presents are contributions left daily, such as flour, sugar, evaporated milk, and other necessary baking items.
Over 98% of the items made at Kind House come from these donated ingredients. Baking cakes and filling a baker’s rack requires much more than just Glenda’s dedication though. Watching Glenda’s face beam as she introduced her mom was a highlight of my time spent with her. Her mother, Glenda “Sue” Hobson, who has since passed away, is, recalled Glenda, “why I am who I am today.” The special bond the two shared was very apparent. To “give and
serve others is our job,” she stated as she gave her mom a hug.
Then there is Glenda’s husband, Cody. He daily helps break things down and return their home to normal, giving his time sacrificially until the day Kind House has a separate store-front location. Daughters Faith, 26, and Hope, 18, have given much as well. The love this family
has for others is very apparent, which is what makes the focus of Kind House so understandable.
The goal of this not-for-profit bakery is to help people fall in love with helping others – to
love neighbors, and care for the elderly and orphans. Funds are currently being raised to build a simple storefront nestled close to a neighborhood. To help fulfill that mission will require the acts of many. Order baked goods from Kind House. Stop by for a cinnamon roll on your way to work. Volunteer to bake a pie or cake. Leave a bag of flour on the porch rack. Become a monthly financial donor. Perhaps, come again for another cinnamon roll!
https://kindhousebakery.org/
2100 SW 60th Ave, Amarillo, TX 79118
(806) 220-8115