A Rochester tradition continues this year at Holy Childhood and their new Special Touch Bakery.
Over 2,400 pies are being baked for the Thanksgiving holiday at Special Touch this week. The facility’s primary mission is to provide training and employment for people in our community with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
With pies stacked taller than my head, Director of Bakery Operations Joe Perdicho showed me around the bakery floor, which has been open for about a month now. He says there has been a lot of positive energy coming from the community.
“It’s been fantastic, it really has. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing, people have been coming in, I’ve been getting emails, folks wanting to know if they can order in advance.”
Anthony Genazzio has been working with Holy Childhood for 15 years, and now bakes at the new location. He says he loves his job here.
“My favorite thing about it is working at the cannolis.”
What started as just a couple hundred pies a day has now ramped up to over 500 a day during the holiday season.
Special Touch will soon open a cafe at this location as well.
Perdicho says they started baking overnight Sunday to prepare for pick up Tuesday with traditional pecan, apple and pumpkin pies topping the list of orders But a bakery special - the cannoli pie - has also been popular.
Proceeds from pie sales all benefit Holy Childhood.
This story is reported from WXXI’s Inclusion Desk.