Written by: Alana Crosby
A display of home-baked goods can be found every Friday, from 12 to 3 p.m. at Miss Brenda’s Bakery in the Village Market. Along with her team, Brenda Walsh is working to raise money for the “Kids Club for Jesus” ministry.
“Kids Club for Jesus” is a website filled with Christ-centered content for children, including on-demand programs, crafts, Bible lessons, recipes, activities and a feature that ships used books to children for free.
Walsh is currently looking for a building to move her ministry to and is seeking volunteers to help in the bakery and the ministry.
“It’s not about the money. It’s about the ministry, and that’s our biggest takeaway because we’re reaching people and letting them know what we do,” Walsh said.
Walsh, known to many as Miss Brenda, is a former producer and host of Kids Time at 3ABN. Additionally, she has published six cookbooks, devotionals, an autobiography and the Miss Brenda’s Bedtime Stories set.
Walsh and her team, which consists of her mother, Bernie Micheff, Mellisa Hoffman, who is Walsh’s business partner, and Hoffman’s mother, Pam Knechtel, started the bakery in October 2020. The idea for the bakery came to Walsh and her team as they were brainstorming fundraising ideas.
“We started thinking about the talents that we have that we could use,” Walsh said.
Walsh’s mother taught her to bake and cook when she was old enough to stand on a chair to reach the counter. Seeing that Hoffman could also cook and bake, this brought the team to the idea of a bakery.
Walsh decided on the name Miss Brenda’s Bakery.
“I produced and hosted Kids Time for almost 20 years, and so I’m known as Miss Brenda around the world,” Walsh said. “And that’s why we named it Miss Brenda’s Bakery.”
The money raised from the bakery sales will be used to help Walsh’s ministry “Kids Club for Jesus,” which Walsh believes provides children with resources for spiritual growth.
“It’s a huge opportunity to give children spiritual food who need it,” Walsh said.
Walsh would love to have people donate more books to be used for this ministry. The Adventist Book Center (ABC) is collecting used books to be shipped to children in need. Anyone willing to donate books can drop them off at the ABC and say they are for “Kids Club for Jesus.”
“Right now, our demand is bigger than our supply,” Hoffman stated.
Walsh and Hoffman are concerned with the absence of Sabbath schools for children due to COVID-19 restrictions. They are adding new programs every week to try to fill the void left by the pandemic. The bakery provides an opportunity to get the word out about the website.
Some of the products offered by Miss Brenda’s Bakery are lemon poppy seed bread, whole wheat bread, white bread, pies, scones, cakes and dinner rolls. The bakery tries to mix things up, bringing new items to the table each week.
“I can’t think of anything we wouldn’t try,” Walsh said.
The bakery offers a wide variety of baked goods freshly made every Thursday and Friday morning by Walsh and her team in their kitchens.
“We are super clean in the kitchen and germ freaks,” Walsh said. “I am a registered nurse, I make sure that everything is spotless!”