The owners of the Nova Scotia-based Schoolhouse Gluten-Free Gourmet bakery feel positive for the first time in months, after receiving an outpouring of community support to stay open in the wake of an unexpected $45,000 freezer cost.
In the last five days, Schoolhouse’s GoFundMe has raised more than $34,000 for the new freezer, and owners Aidan Brunn and Jennifer Laughlin said they’ve received countless messages of support, including some private donations to reach their $45,000 goal.
“The outpouring of love and support for us has been mind-blowing. People are making $5 donations, up to $1,000, whatever they could give,” Laughlin said. “And the fact that even that person is making a $5 donation says so much.”
The family-run business has been operating out of Mahone Bay for 14 years, providing gluten-free options to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I.
However, back in February, they discovered their freezer had been silently failing for 13 of those years and was in urgent need of replacement.
“Just like anybody, we’re not sitting on $50,000 that we can suddenly deal with this issue,” said Brunn. “That was very overwhelming, crushing news for us to get.”
Brunn said the couple was also not comfortable taking out a loan of that size, given the state of the economy. As soon as they got the news, the couple said they began searching for other solutions.
“I’ve gone through all of the thoughts and processes, and talked to so many people trying to figure out how to make this work,” Laughlin said. “Because we’re not done — we don’t want to be done.”
After many restless nights, Brunn and Laughlin said they came to the point where they knew they had to ask for help from the community.
“When you’re shouldering a great weight … it’s amazing how when you take that bit of darkness and you bring it out and start talking about it, and bring it into the light, it changes its form completely,” Brunn said.
On top of the financial support, the pair said many people thanked them for the impact they have made by providing gluten-free options at affordable prices.
According to Laughlin, the rising cost of gluten-free food has been detrimental to the celiac community in recent months.
On top of that, she said the government doesn’t have the best tax credit and recent grocery rebates haven’t made as much of an impact on those who are celiac.
“We just saw recently where the government has given some people the $500 credit, not recognizing the difference with someone who is celiac,” Laughlin said. “Maybe they aren’t in that lower income bracket to get that tax credit, but their food costs are double.”
These inflationary costs have only made Brunn and Laughlin’s determination to continue providing gluten-free options stronger.
“We think that we offer a product that is valuable, it has an impact on people’s lives and we feel privileged to be able to do that and want to continue doing it,” Laughlin said.
According to Brunn, they are receiving love from the community like never before.
“We have our tagline ‘Nova Scotia Strong,’ and it’s true. It’s amazing how people come together and rally behind things,” Brunn said.
“It’s felt like Jen and I have been pushing a boulder the size of this building up a hill on our own, and now it feels like with every passing hour, we’ve got hundreds and thousands of people behind us, and their hands are on that boulder too.”
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