Roselena Trevizo and Randy Koch aren’t fighting fire with fire; instead they are leading with kindness.
Disaster struck this week at 1989 Bakehouse, 745 N. 4th Ave., when someone stole the bakery’s tips out of their tip jar. The couple’s 17-year-old son along with another teenage worker were the only ones in the business when a man came in, grabbed a handful of cash out of the tip jar and ran out.
“It was a pretty helpless feeling,” Trevizo said. “I got really annoyed and really frustrated, and I was like what do we do, how do we even handle this?”
Trevizo took a deep breath and soon, the angry feelings disappeared and a wave of empathy washed over her. She believed whoever had done this may have been going through a tough time.
So, instead of getting even, the couple decided to give back.
1989 Bakehouse has started a new food voucher program where the community can donate to a fund that’s used to give a free meal and drink to those in need.
“I was like, what should we do because I feel like this is an ongoing issue for everyone and then we thought what if we just give people the option of helping us feed someone,” Trevizo said.
The couple got to work, figuring out what way would work best to help make their new program a success. To donate to the community fund, you can either place a donation on their website or tell the cashier that you would like to donate a meal.
For $5, you can sponsor a pastry and drink; for $10, it’ll pay for breakfast and a drink; and for $15, they will donate a full meal plus a drink.
Freshly baked goods at 1989 Bakehouse on March 12.
Earlier this week, 1989 Bakehouse announced their new plans on Instagram. Trevizo didn’t expect much from the post until her social media manager told her the phrase every business wants to hear: the post had gone viral.
They had gotten more than 1,000 likes and 76 comments, all supporting and praising the bakery for handling the situation with care.
Even though the voucher program has only been running for a couple of days, the community has already shown up. In fact, people who don’t even live in Tucson have been jumping on the donation bandwagon.
“It's been kind of crazy,” Trevizo said. “I woke up yesterday to a woman who sent us a message after she purchased a voucher, and she was like, I'm on a cruise in Norway and I saw this, and I just had to stop what I was doing so that I could donate a meal.”
On Wednesday, three people came into the bakery asking to redeem one of the vouchers. With no questions asked, the 1989 Bakehouse staff served them up a few free goodies, courtesy of the community fund.
Whether you’ve been struggling or just having a rough day, anyone can head to 1989 Bakehouse and lean on community support.
“We know this won’t solve everything. But maybe it helps someone get through the day without feeling invisible,” their Instagram post said.
