SOUTH JORDAN – Local baker Steve Borg decided last year, in the first week of the COVID-19 shutdown and in the aftermath of an earthquake in the Salt Lake Valley, to give back to a struggling community.
So he created the Free Bread Project. Everyone who came to Schmidt’s Pastry Cottage would get two free loaves of bread – one for themselves and one to give to a neighbor. The idea was to encourage customers to check if their neighbors were homebound during the pandemic.
“It was to help people who are at home and, you know, could not get out to have their neighbors examined,” he explained.
Sponsor was not sure how long the project would last, but 365 days later it is still going strong. The bakery has since given away more than 120,000 free loaves of bread.
“We just kept doing it. And as we kept going, we know that more and more people probably did not need the bread, but I felt we were still in a pandemic,” Borg said. “My customers kept me busy for 45 years and I felt, as long as I could do it, I would give it back to them and do it just as long as I could until it was done.”
At age 68, Borg said he could not do many practical service projects, especially not during a pandemic. Giving the free bread was his way of serving his community, he said. He hopes others will be inspired to find creative ways to give back in their communities.
“If everyone helps out and gives back, it helps us through these long, long years,” he said.
It has been a difficult year for business in the bakery as there have been no events like office parties or weddings that usually bring in customers. The bakery was able to stay open and rely on its loyal customers throughout the entire pandemic to stay afloat, Borg said.
If even just a handful of families were helped during this time, Borg said the whole free bread project would have been worth it.
In the future, Borg said he hopes to continue the program as long as it is necessary and as long as he can afford it.
“We felt it gave a little bit of happiness, a little bit of good in life,” he said.
Correction: An earlier version said Schmidt’s Pastry Cottage was located in West Jordan. The bakery actually has two locations: one in South Jordan and one in Taylorsville.