Mother Opens Special Kneads Bakery To Give Son With Cerebral Palsy A Job

When it comes to one Illinois family, baking and large hearts go hand in hand.

When Margaret Cortes lost her job in 2018, she decided to establish a bakery to ensure that her child’s education could be paid for.

But the bakery had another goal: to provide work for her cerebral palsy-affected 16-year-old son, Frankie.

Cortes gave the bakery the name Special Kneads Bakery.

In a recent interview with KWQC-TV, Cortes said, “He’s got a lot of diagnoses against him.”

“He has cerebral palsy, Dandy-Walker variation, which is a brain abnormality, and he has vision problems, so he is blind in one eye.”

Doctors told her when her kid was born that he might never be able to walk.

Frankie now not only walks, but also works in the shop’s front counter, greeting clients with a grin.

Cortes got the idea to start Special Kneads after a local bakery closed after 80 years in operation, according to the non-profit bakery’s official Facebook page.

She wrote, “Bingo, that’s it!” “Let’s start a bakery to provide for my family and to provide Frankie a place to work when he gets back to work.”

Cortes wanted to make sure her kid was connecting with others and developing social skills in addition to providing him a job.

“He has the ability to sing, dance, run, and leap. She said, “He can do so many things.”

“It was critical to me that he didn’t wind up working in a factory or in a job where he wouldn’t be exposed to other people.”

Frankie, on the other hand, is savoring every moment.

He told KWQC-TV, “I simply try to treat everyone with respect and make them smile.” “I enjoy giving back to the community because it makes me feel good.”

According to the bakery’s Facebook page, it intends to recruit more people with impairments in the future.