Aregak Bakery: Celebrating Six Years!
On September 2024, Aregak Bakery will be six years old! Since 2018, the bakery has employed 13 young adults with disabilities and nine relatives of people with disabilities.
The idea for Armenia’s first inclusive cafe began as a small dream in 2017, when Mikayel – one of the young people attending Emili Aregak Center – showed an interest and aptitude in baking.
Mikayel began attending Aregak in 2008. When Aregak got a makeover in the form of the new Emili Aregak Center, Mikayel started helping chef Anahit cook tasty meals for all the kids. It was a pure joy for them to work together in the center’s big, sparkling kitchen.
While Mikayel enjoys making soups and salads, bread is his favorite creation. When you watch him mix dough, you can feel the love.
Mikayel had the opportunity to attend culinary vocational school in 2016. However, because of his Down Syndrome, it was difficult for him to find a place to intern. For that reason, he came back to the Emili Aregak Center kitchen.
This obstacle became the inspiration behind Aregak Bakery. The Emili Aregak Center team began to imagine a cafe that would provide work opportunities for people like Mikayel as well as for moms like Anahit, whose son has cerebral palsy. The cafe would also serve as a community gathering place that could have the power to change stereotypes over time. And eventually, any profit could be reinvested back into the Emili Aregak Center.
It was a winning idea, and in 2017, the European Union awarded a large grant to make it reality.