June 9, 2025 • 21 mins
S4:EP14 Disability World with Norma Stanley ft Michael and Tempa Kohler. The Kohlers own and operate special Kneads and Treats, Inc. where they believe EVERY child should have a birthday cake on their special day. Special Kneads and Treats, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a core mission to try and ensure that any child in our community that has a birthday whose family cannot afford a birthday cake receives one FREE from us. One of our major programs is connecting individuals with disabilities to a rewarding profession while providing valuable work experience and training. A focus on special needs adults receiving self-confidence, a sense of value and the opportunity to enjoy success and socialization is our core
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, my name is Norma Stanley and welcome to Disability World. Hello,
(00:36):
and welcome to another segment of Disability World where we
discuss various issues of interest and impact as it relates
to the disability community as a whole here in Georgia,
around the country, and around the world. I'm your host,
Norma Stanley, and on Disability World, we look forward to
speaking with individuals, community leaders, parents, advocates, business owners, and
(00:59):
real providers who care about this vast and vital population
of about seventy million people in the United States alone.
And today I'm really excited to speak with mister Michael
Kohler and his wife Tempa, who are the co founders
of Special Needs and Treats, which is a bakery that
(01:21):
employs individuals with disabilities, and they're doing some amazing work
here in the metro Atlanta area and I want to
introduce you to them, so please welcome Michael and Tempa Cola. Hello. Hi,
(01:48):
how are you guys doing today? Thank you, I'm doing
great and I appreciate you guys taking time out of
your busy schedule because I'm not how busy you are
to be a part of our show and just share
some information about well, specially these treats. I recently learned
about what you guys are doing, and I was at
the BDI Awards recently and they showed the video and said, Wow,
(02:10):
I've got to speak to these people, so please tell
us a little bit about especially these treats and how
you got started.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Okay, well, we are special needs and treats. We are
located in Lawrenceville, Georgia. We actually truly got started. I
would say it was way back thirty five years ago
when our son was born with special needs and we
didn't know exactly what was going on. Ratchet forward, at seven,
we found out he had fragilect syndrome, and ratchet forward
(02:38):
to he ages out of county school systems at the
age of twenty two, and then there's not really much
for folks that have different disabilities in the work environment.
So my wife, I'll let her speak for what she
does and still does to a certain point at this
and then bring us back up to speed to where
(03:01):
we are today.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I've been doing CAP decorating since I was about seven
years old, and I will be fifty eight this year,
so I've got a little bit of experience with CAP
decorating and it's just always been a passion of mine.
And so when we moved to Georgia in nineteen ninety
eight and our son started playing special needs baseball, we
had probably about two hundred and eight families that played
(03:23):
along with us, and as parents would set in the
stands and we would talk about, well, why are we
going to do whenever our kids age out of county programs.
We live in Gwennette County. We had awesome experience in
Gwinnett County, but when they turned twenty two, the services
are no longer there, and so we would sit around
and talk and I would just always say, well, I
know how to bake, so maybe I'll open a bakery
(03:43):
and Bradley can just work for me. And it was
really more of a selfish type thing because I just thought, well,
it'll be me and him. But God had much bigger
plans for it than what I ever thought, because we now.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Have how many well, as of today, we have forty
three paid employees. We have two more that'll be joining
paproll as soon as they can get me their paperwork,
and I'm in the process.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
We have three that have just come off the waiting list,
which we'll talk a little bit more about that and
answer some specific questions. And I'm interviewing three more next week.
So we are trying to make as big of a
difference as we can, but we do have a waiting
list as of this point in time, about one hundred
and forty one on a wait.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Wow, wow, And how long have you been in existence?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, we started, we got our five O one C
three nonprofit status. Actually it was just over about twelve
years ago. It was twenty thirteen, and then in January
of twenty fourteen, we opened in our first lease space
brick and mortar on the Lawrenceville Square and then we
spent about three three and a half years there until
(04:52):
we are now in this facility which is basically home base.
This facility is now wholly owned by the nonprofit entity.
It's a twelve thousand square foot facility with a twenty
six hundred square foot kitchen that everything around here has
been accommodated around wheelchair walker access, blindness, different things like that,
(05:14):
and we've been doing it now for it'll be twelve years.
Well it'll be twelve years next January, so about eleven,
almost eleven and.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
A half years.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Awesome, And so most of your employees of people with disabilities.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yes, ma'am. Of the forty three on payroll, thirty eight
have some type of diagnosis, everything from limited motor skills, nonverbal,
in a wheelchair, all the way up to extremely high functioning.
We have some people will work two hours a week
(05:49):
all the way up to full time forty hours a week.
We now have been blessed with the ability that our
full time people do have the opportunity of benefits, is
health insurance, dental vision of those type of things working
towards brow one K. Maybe in the future if God's
got a plan for that, but right now we don't
have that. We're getting ready to put in place some
(06:12):
like flexible time off programs and other things to keep
enhancing our benefits packages and things we do. But yeah,
the and it runs, it runs a wide spectrum of
folks with different types of abilities.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
That's amazing. And so are you a bakery or so
what kind of things do you bake?
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, we are a We're like a commercial bakery. So
we do have a retail like storefront. It's our program
food sales because our two main missions as a nonprofit.
The reason we started was she should talk on this
and then I can talk about the next part of
the program. We have two primary programs, and I'll let
(06:56):
her talk about the first one because that's how the
nonprofit truly started.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
But just to let you know, whenever you say bakery,
we are not like a bread bakery. We don't do
like breads and croissants and things like that. We are
just a sweet bakery where cupcakes and cakes and.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
That kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But I.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Wanted to help somehow, and I knew I wanted to
have a bakery. But one day I saw an interview
on TV. I can't remember who the interviewer was, but
she was interviewing a lady who was in a homeless
shelter with her two children. She was married and had
a job a year prior to that, and her and
her husband used to donate to this homeless shelter that
she was now living in because she got a divorce
(07:38):
and lost her job. Interviewer found out that it was
her son's birthday and asked him, what do you want
for your birthday? And I'm thinking, you know, xbox bike
or something, and he said, all I want is a
birthday cake and God pierced my heart and said you
can do that, and I'm like, yeah, I can do that.
I'm like, I don't know how to do it or
how I'm going to get them out there. But that
(08:00):
was where that dream came from. And the first person,
of course, I shared it with, was him. But then
the next person I shared it with was Laura Drake
at the Southeast Hoop co Op and she's like, well,
that's great. I don't know how we're going to get
them from you because we don't have the space. Well,
they are now in a much bigger facility as well,
and they are the biggest recipient of our cake program
(08:22):
where we give away free cakes to kill in the community.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And so we call that our Cakes for Kiddos, and
that was our primary function and started the nonprofit and
we've got about twenty one partners. We deal with food
co ops like she was mentioning, foster care groups a
little bit, with defacts, homeless shelters, different church programs, day programs,
(08:46):
anything primarily catering to the kids who may not be
able to afford a birthday cake. We also deal with
some of the elderly care like memory care, centers things
like that because they're kind of like orphan children as well.
We do things like that, and then everything came into
full focus around the special needs because that's what people
more so flock to us about. Is not particularly the
(09:08):
cakes that we do, but it's for the education, training,
and employment of special needs adults in a commercial bakery
environment with everything again from retail store like front where
they're helping customers, pulling product, running registers. Thanks to that
nature all the way back through the entire organization, our
(09:29):
very first paid employee is now the bakery manager. Our
first program employee has been with us the full time.
He's in a wheelchair. Matter of fact, he worked earlier today.
And then it runs the gamut. We have several folks
who have gone on from us where they were started.
They went from part time to maybe full time and
(09:52):
then found different jobs. That's not who we are. We're
not a training program because we don't have a getting,
a middle, and an end. There is no end unless
they choose to take their skills and go elsewhere, because
it's like family and most people just just want a
chance to get in here and be seen for what
(10:14):
they can do, not what they can't do. I had
an interview just a few hours ago with a young
man who is extremely intelligent, but his speech is very,
very severe, very limited motor skills, but great with using
a touch pad in computers, and we're gonna give him.
He's going to start coming in next Friday and see
(10:34):
what we can do from a computer zone point.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
So is your son still working with you guys.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yes, ma'am. He works three days a week. He gets
a four day weekend every weekend. But when we first opened,
he said, I don't work weekends, dad. So that's what
we learned from me being in corporate for so many years.
But yeah, he's actually here today. He works Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Also, So what did you do before you opened up
special needs intreats? I mean you said you were in corporate.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Well, yeah, I worked for a couple of smaller companies.
I'll mention you know our last name is Coler khl R.
So when we talked about opening, she keeps asking me
for color, plumbing or color. But I worked for a
company called day Wu before they became Douson. I was
working with Caterpillar and day Wu decided to come to
(11:25):
the US to do foclips in the US, contracts and
things like that. But long story short, they selected some
people who were working with Caterpillar because we already knew
the product, and that's how I started with day Wu
and then day Wu just before they were purchased by Douson,
I went to work for a company called Takiuchi. So
I used all those years of experience in working in
(11:46):
business with operations, logistics, customer service, you know, warranty parts,
all of those types of things, to where now I
do all of the business side of things here for
the bakery. And then my wife, Tempa, she is all
the baking side, the kitchen work, creative and all of
those things.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Okay, great, So when you always i'm miss templed, did
you walk us out of the home at all?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Did you just you know?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yes, I've I've had so many different jobs. I used
to work for the I R S. I worked for
the post office, I drove the school bus. I was
for a photography company. I've worked for I worked for Walmart,
for Samsquock, for a small bakery back in Missouri where
(12:34):
we're from. So everything that I've done, though, it always
led up to what I'm doing now. I really think
God was just priming me all along for the current
job that I have.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
That's why you'd be surprised. I understand because I've done
the same thing. I used to ride this the specially
needs bus with my daughter once. She was one of
those people I picked up. So I've been there, I
dand what we have to do. So tell us about
you know, what are you most proud about of when
you're coming when you're talking about special needs and treats.
(13:05):
I know that you know being able to employ all
these people who probably would have had trouble getting jobs,
because I mean, that's a big issue in the disability community.
One of the things that you're most proud about because
of what you're doing with your business.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I mean, I think the main thing is is that
we are impacting their lives because our tagline is everyone
needs to be needed, because if you do not have
when you wake up every day, if you do not
have something to do, I mean that just I think
mentally does it to everybody, whether you have a disability
or not. And I think you know a lot of
(13:40):
times when people retire and they say that they get
sick after their retire because they you know, it's like
they don't have a meaning or a purpose, and so
I just that to me is the proudest thing is
that we give everybody, these individuals our employees and now
they're our family, that that we give them something to
do every day, and that they come in and they're
(14:01):
happy to be here. They like to be here, They
want jobs to do, that want to find things to do.
So that's me is the biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
And I know if their families are really appreciative, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, yeah, My big thing would be I like the
part where you know, we do an interview process like
everyone else, but we're not your typical corporate environment looking
for all the same things. What we look at is
we look at the ability, not the disability, and then
we look and see how can we come alongside and
bring them in and really hone in on what skills
(14:38):
and gifts and talents they've been created with, because we
honestly believe that every single person was made with a
plan and a purpose. And you know, and the God
we believe in does not I mean, he doesn't make mistakes.
So these folks who a lot of our folks might say,
you know, they've been told they would never amount to
(14:59):
any thing, or they've lived a life where it's just
been very hard and challenging because people don't understand them,
they don't take the time to get to know them
and what they can do. And then we try and
figure out, okay, so what is that skill set? What
is it that you have that you've been gifted with
that we can tap into and utilize. So it's it's
(15:19):
really opened I think our outlook and the ability for
us to start telling other businesses, hey, look, you guys
just need to give them a chance. There is such
an enormous available workforce out there that if you just
take a little bit of time and think outside the box,
you know you can these folks can do everything then
(15:44):
be more than I can do.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
And that is such a you know, there's such a needed,
you know, infusion in the workforce because you know that
people disabilities are among the most loyal employees that you
can find. And like you said, they're gifted and talented,
they're resourceful, they figure things out that you know, they
find a way make away and not everybody. People don't
(16:12):
realize how valuable they really really are and and and
the assets that they can bring to a company and
so that's why I want to make sure you know
that we talked a little bit about what you guys do,
and and because like my challenge as a journalist and
as someone who also is the mother of an adult
(16:33):
daughter with disabilities who does not have a job. She's
intellectually disabled, but she has good comprehension. She she models clothes,
that's what she likes to do. She loves music. She
likes to sing, but she can't say words, but she
can she can sing home a tune. So we're trying
to figure out what job we could give other than
(16:55):
being my liaison for the community and that people you
know out there, you know this is how you know
because she does everything she's she's she's a very happy
young woman. But the point is that I don't like
for her to miss out on anything.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
And and I know there's a lot of.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Parents like myself out there. We want our kids to
be able to experience life just like everybody gets to
the good parts of life. And so you know, she
may not have a regular job like the ones that
you guys are offering. These people that you know need
these jobs, but you know she's very active and she
you know, you know, I pay her to help me
(17:32):
do stuff. You know she likes to. I don't know,
she just she likes to put things in boxes too,
but not on a regular basis. She likes to take
them out more this likes to put them in. So,
you know, we're still trying to figure out there.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
May be a place for that. There's so many assembly
line jobs that and and putting together things or work
or even disassembling things right. You know, like there's a
group we recently partnered up with that we collect used
and then they pick it up and they have a
lot of special needs and disabled individuals that actually take
(18:06):
it all apart and recycle.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
You know. And then if you know, I can think
about when I worked at Caterpillar and Dewu and Takiyuchi,
the assembly line work of putting things together. Some of
our folks in the special needs community are perfect for
that because it's it's the same task over and over
and over again. So number one, it's stimulating to certain
(18:30):
folks who need that, but also their attention to detail,
and I mean it's just there's so much out there. Again,
if people take their blinders off and they just again
think outside the box, think outside the box.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Well, we've run out of time, but I appreciate you
guys taking some time out to be on the disability
world today. And so if people want to check out
your products and learn more about your company, where do
they go?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Well, probably the best place to start would be www
dot special Needs and Treats dot org and that is
spelled special k n e A d S like kneading
dough and Ndtreats dot org. From there, you can hit
our Facebook, our YouTube. You can see all of our
different social media platforms, Instagram, Twitter, all that. I don't
(19:22):
do much of that myself, but we have folks who
help us with that, and we're trying to get more
special needs involved in doing that as well. That probably
be the best place to start that. Or come by
and see us at one fifty six S Highway and Lawrenceville, Georgia.
We're right off Lawrenceville Square, right across from all the
new townhomes and things that they've built.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Awesome. Well, I enjoyed that popcorn that you guys left
for the the attendees of the Bobby Dot. That was
some good popcorns. So I'll be by to get some
of that. So thank you. Again for being a part
of disability work today and thank you for all that
you're doing to employ this community and helping them to enhance.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Their quality of life.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
So we appreciate you and much continued success to you.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Much thank for having us.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Thank you be blessed. Right. Well, that was mister Michael
and Tempa Cohler, the owners of Special Needs and Treats,
and they're doing some amazing work in the community and
you know, we wish them all continue success. And I'm
so excited about those young people of various ages who
(20:32):
get to work with them. Uh And and you know,
God is really gonna bless the you know, the work
that they're doing because it's such a big need in
this community getting people to get jobs. And so I'm
very thankful that they're out there and doing what they do.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Again for being a part of disability world today and
looking forward to bringing you some other great community leaders
and business owners who are out here doing some really
positive things for people in the disability community and making
a real difference. So thank you for being a part
and until next time, you'd be blessed.
Hi, my name is Norma Stanley and welcome to Disability World. Hello,
(00:36):
and welcome to another segment of Disability World where we
discuss various issues of interest and impact as it relates
to the disability community as a whole here in Georgia,
around the country, and around the world. I'm your host,
Norma Stanley, and on Disability World, we look forward to
speaking with individuals, community leaders, parents, advocates, business owners, and
(00:59):
real providers who care about this vast and vital population
of about seventy million people in the United States alone.
And today I'm really excited to speak with mister Michael
Kohler and his wife Tempa, who are the co founders
of Special Needs and Treats, which is a bakery that
(01:21):
employs individuals with disabilities, and they're doing some amazing work
here in the metro Atlanta area and I want to
introduce you to them, so please welcome Michael and Tempa Cola. Hello. Hi,
(01:48):
how are you guys doing today? Thank you, I'm doing
great and I appreciate you guys taking time out of
your busy schedule because I'm not how busy you are
to be a part of our show and just share
some information about well, specially these treats. I recently learned
about what you guys are doing, and I was at
the BDI Awards recently and they showed the video and said, Wow,
(02:10):
I've got to speak to these people, so please tell
us a little bit about especially these treats and how
you got started.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Okay, well, we are special needs and treats. We are
located in Lawrenceville, Georgia. We actually truly got started. I
would say it was way back thirty five years ago
when our son was born with special needs and we
didn't know exactly what was going on. Ratchet forward, at seven,
we found out he had fragilect syndrome, and ratchet forward
(02:38):
to he ages out of county school systems at the
age of twenty two, and then there's not really much
for folks that have different disabilities in the work environment.
So my wife, I'll let her speak for what she
does and still does to a certain point at this
and then bring us back up to speed to where
(03:01):
we are today.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I've been doing CAP decorating since I was about seven
years old, and I will be fifty eight this year,
so I've got a little bit of experience with CAP
decorating and it's just always been a passion of mine.
And so when we moved to Georgia in nineteen ninety
eight and our son started playing special needs baseball, we
had probably about two hundred and eight families that played
(03:23):
along with us, and as parents would set in the
stands and we would talk about, well, why are we
going to do whenever our kids age out of county programs.
We live in Gwennette County. We had awesome experience in
Gwinnett County, but when they turned twenty two, the services
are no longer there, and so we would sit around
and talk and I would just always say, well, I
know how to bake, so maybe I'll open a bakery
(03:43):
and Bradley can just work for me. And it was
really more of a selfish type thing because I just thought, well,
it'll be me and him. But God had much bigger
plans for it than what I ever thought, because we now.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Have how many well, as of today, we have forty
three paid employees. We have two more that'll be joining
paproll as soon as they can get me their paperwork,
and I'm in the process.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
We have three that have just come off the waiting list,
which we'll talk a little bit more about that and
answer some specific questions. And I'm interviewing three more next week.
So we are trying to make as big of a
difference as we can, but we do have a waiting
list as of this point in time, about one hundred
and forty one on a wait.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Wow, wow, And how long have you been in existence?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, we started, we got our five O one C
three nonprofit status. Actually it was just over about twelve
years ago. It was twenty thirteen, and then in January
of twenty fourteen, we opened in our first lease space
brick and mortar on the Lawrenceville Square and then we
spent about three three and a half years there until
(04:52):
we are now in this facility which is basically home base.
This facility is now wholly owned by the nonprofit entity.
It's a twelve thousand square foot facility with a twenty
six hundred square foot kitchen that everything around here has
been accommodated around wheelchair walker access, blindness, different things like that,
(05:14):
and we've been doing it now for it'll be twelve years.
Well it'll be twelve years next January, so about eleven,
almost eleven and.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
A half years.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Awesome, And so most of your employees of people with disabilities.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yes, ma'am. Of the forty three on payroll, thirty eight
have some type of diagnosis, everything from limited motor skills, nonverbal,
in a wheelchair, all the way up to extremely high functioning.
We have some people will work two hours a week
(05:49):
all the way up to full time forty hours a week.
We now have been blessed with the ability that our
full time people do have the opportunity of benefits, is
health insurance, dental vision of those type of things working
towards brow one K. Maybe in the future if God's
got a plan for that, but right now we don't
have that. We're getting ready to put in place some
(06:12):
like flexible time off programs and other things to keep
enhancing our benefits packages and things we do. But yeah,
the and it runs, it runs a wide spectrum of
folks with different types of abilities.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
That's amazing. And so are you a bakery or so
what kind of things do you bake?
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, we are a We're like a commercial bakery. So
we do have a retail like storefront. It's our program
food sales because our two main missions as a nonprofit.
The reason we started was she should talk on this
and then I can talk about the next part of
the program. We have two primary programs, and I'll let
(06:56):
her talk about the first one because that's how the
nonprofit truly started.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
But just to let you know, whenever you say bakery,
we are not like a bread bakery. We don't do
like breads and croissants and things like that. We are
just a sweet bakery where cupcakes and cakes and.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
That kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But I.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Wanted to help somehow, and I knew I wanted to
have a bakery. But one day I saw an interview
on TV. I can't remember who the interviewer was, but
she was interviewing a lady who was in a homeless
shelter with her two children. She was married and had
a job a year prior to that, and her and
her husband used to donate to this homeless shelter that
she was now living in because she got a divorce
(07:38):
and lost her job. Interviewer found out that it was
her son's birthday and asked him, what do you want
for your birthday? And I'm thinking, you know, xbox bike
or something, and he said, all I want is a
birthday cake and God pierced my heart and said you
can do that, and I'm like, yeah, I can do that.
I'm like, I don't know how to do it or
how I'm going to get them out there. But that
(08:00):
was where that dream came from. And the first person,
of course, I shared it with, was him. But then
the next person I shared it with was Laura Drake
at the Southeast Hoop co Op and she's like, well,
that's great. I don't know how we're going to get
them from you because we don't have the space. Well,
they are now in a much bigger facility as well,
and they are the biggest recipient of our cake program
(08:22):
where we give away free cakes to kill in the community.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And so we call that our Cakes for Kiddos, and
that was our primary function and started the nonprofit and
we've got about twenty one partners. We deal with food
co ops like she was mentioning, foster care groups a
little bit, with defacts, homeless shelters, different church programs, day programs,
(08:46):
anything primarily catering to the kids who may not be
able to afford a birthday cake. We also deal with
some of the elderly care like memory care, centers things
like that because they're kind of like orphan children as well.
We do things like that, and then everything came into
full focus around the special needs because that's what people
more so flock to us about. Is not particularly the
(09:08):
cakes that we do, but it's for the education, training,
and employment of special needs adults in a commercial bakery
environment with everything again from retail store like front where
they're helping customers, pulling product, running registers. Thanks to that
nature all the way back through the entire organization, our
(09:29):
very first paid employee is now the bakery manager. Our
first program employee has been with us the full time.
He's in a wheelchair. Matter of fact, he worked earlier today.
And then it runs the gamut. We have several folks
who have gone on from us where they were started.
They went from part time to maybe full time and
(09:52):
then found different jobs. That's not who we are. We're
not a training program because we don't have a getting,
a middle, and an end. There is no end unless
they choose to take their skills and go elsewhere, because
it's like family and most people just just want a
chance to get in here and be seen for what
(10:14):
they can do, not what they can't do. I had
an interview just a few hours ago with a young
man who is extremely intelligent, but his speech is very,
very severe, very limited motor skills, but great with using
a touch pad in computers, and we're gonna give him.
He's going to start coming in next Friday and see
(10:34):
what we can do from a computer zone point.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
So is your son still working with you guys.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yes, ma'am. He works three days a week. He gets
a four day weekend every weekend. But when we first opened,
he said, I don't work weekends, dad. So that's what
we learned from me being in corporate for so many years.
But yeah, he's actually here today. He works Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Also, So what did you do before you opened up
special needs intreats? I mean you said you were in corporate.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Well, yeah, I worked for a couple of smaller companies.
I'll mention you know our last name is Coler khl R.
So when we talked about opening, she keeps asking me
for color, plumbing or color. But I worked for a
company called day Wu before they became Douson. I was
working with Caterpillar and day Wu decided to come to
(11:25):
the US to do foclips in the US, contracts and
things like that. But long story short, they selected some
people who were working with Caterpillar because we already knew
the product, and that's how I started with day Wu
and then day Wu just before they were purchased by Douson,
I went to work for a company called Takiuchi. So
I used all those years of experience in working in
(11:46):
business with operations, logistics, customer service, you know, warranty parts,
all of those types of things, to where now I
do all of the business side of things here for
the bakery. And then my wife, Tempa, she is all
the baking side, the kitchen work, creative and all of
those things.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Okay, great, So when you always i'm miss templed, did
you walk us out of the home at all?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Did you just you know?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yes, I've I've had so many different jobs. I used
to work for the I R S. I worked for
the post office, I drove the school bus. I was
for a photography company. I've worked for I worked for Walmart,
for Samsquock, for a small bakery back in Missouri where
(12:34):
we're from. So everything that I've done, though, it always
led up to what I'm doing now. I really think
God was just priming me all along for the current
job that I have.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
That's why you'd be surprised. I understand because I've done
the same thing. I used to ride this the specially
needs bus with my daughter once. She was one of
those people I picked up. So I've been there, I
dand what we have to do. So tell us about
you know, what are you most proud about of when
you're coming when you're talking about special needs and treats.
(13:05):
I know that you know being able to employ all
these people who probably would have had trouble getting jobs,
because I mean, that's a big issue in the disability community.
One of the things that you're most proud about because
of what you're doing with your business.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I mean, I think the main thing is is that
we are impacting their lives because our tagline is everyone
needs to be needed, because if you do not have
when you wake up every day, if you do not
have something to do, I mean that just I think
mentally does it to everybody, whether you have a disability
or not. And I think you know a lot of
(13:40):
times when people retire and they say that they get
sick after their retire because they you know, it's like
they don't have a meaning or a purpose, and so
I just that to me is the proudest thing is
that we give everybody, these individuals our employees and now
they're our family, that that we give them something to
do every day, and that they come in and they're
(14:01):
happy to be here. They like to be here, They
want jobs to do, that want to find things to do.
So that's me is the biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
And I know if their families are really appreciative, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, yeah, My big thing would be I like the
part where you know, we do an interview process like
everyone else, but we're not your typical corporate environment looking
for all the same things. What we look at is
we look at the ability, not the disability, and then
we look and see how can we come alongside and
bring them in and really hone in on what skills
(14:38):
and gifts and talents they've been created with, because we
honestly believe that every single person was made with a
plan and a purpose. And you know, and the God
we believe in does not I mean, he doesn't make mistakes.
So these folks who a lot of our folks might say,
you know, they've been told they would never amount to
(14:59):
any thing, or they've lived a life where it's just
been very hard and challenging because people don't understand them,
they don't take the time to get to know them
and what they can do. And then we try and
figure out, okay, so what is that skill set? What
is it that you have that you've been gifted with
that we can tap into and utilize. So it's it's
(15:19):
really opened I think our outlook and the ability for
us to start telling other businesses, hey, look, you guys
just need to give them a chance. There is such
an enormous available workforce out there that if you just
take a little bit of time and think outside the box,
you know you can these folks can do everything then
(15:44):
be more than I can do.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
And that is such a you know, there's such a needed,
you know, infusion in the workforce because you know that
people disabilities are among the most loyal employees that you
can find. And like you said, they're gifted and talented,
they're resourceful, they figure things out that you know, they
find a way make away and not everybody. People don't
(16:12):
realize how valuable they really really are and and and
the assets that they can bring to a company and
so that's why I want to make sure you know
that we talked a little bit about what you guys do,
and and because like my challenge as a journalist and
as someone who also is the mother of an adult
(16:33):
daughter with disabilities who does not have a job. She's
intellectually disabled, but she has good comprehension. She she models clothes,
that's what she likes to do. She loves music. She
likes to sing, but she can't say words, but she
can she can sing home a tune. So we're trying
to figure out what job we could give other than
(16:55):
being my liaison for the community and that people you
know out there, you know this is how you know
because she does everything she's she's she's a very happy
young woman. But the point is that I don't like
for her to miss out on anything.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
And and I know there's a lot of.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Parents like myself out there. We want our kids to
be able to experience life just like everybody gets to
the good parts of life. And so you know, she
may not have a regular job like the ones that
you guys are offering. These people that you know need
these jobs, but you know she's very active and she
you know, you know, I pay her to help me
(17:32):
do stuff. You know she likes to. I don't know,
she just she likes to put things in boxes too,
but not on a regular basis. She likes to take
them out more this likes to put them in. So,
you know, we're still trying to figure out there.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
May be a place for that. There's so many assembly
line jobs that and and putting together things or work
or even disassembling things right. You know, like there's a
group we recently partnered up with that we collect used
and then they pick it up and they have a
lot of special needs and disabled individuals that actually take
(18:06):
it all apart and recycle.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
You know. And then if you know, I can think
about when I worked at Caterpillar and Dewu and Takiyuchi,
the assembly line work of putting things together. Some of
our folks in the special needs community are perfect for
that because it's it's the same task over and over
and over again. So number one, it's stimulating to certain
(18:30):
folks who need that, but also their attention to detail,
and I mean it's just there's so much out there. Again,
if people take their blinders off and they just again
think outside the box, think outside the box.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Well, we've run out of time, but I appreciate you
guys taking some time out to be on the disability
world today. And so if people want to check out
your products and learn more about your company, where do
they go?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Well, probably the best place to start would be www
dot special Needs and Treats dot org and that is
spelled special k n e A d S like kneading
dough and Ndtreats dot org. From there, you can hit
our Facebook, our YouTube. You can see all of our
different social media platforms, Instagram, Twitter, all that. I don't
(19:22):
do much of that myself, but we have folks who
help us with that, and we're trying to get more
special needs involved in doing that as well. That probably
be the best place to start that. Or come by
and see us at one fifty six S Highway and Lawrenceville, Georgia.
We're right off Lawrenceville Square, right across from all the
new townhomes and things that they've built.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Awesome. Well, I enjoyed that popcorn that you guys left
for the the attendees of the Bobby Dot. That was
some good popcorns. So I'll be by to get some
of that. So thank you. Again for being a part
of disability work today and thank you for all that
you're doing to employ this community and helping them to enhance.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Their quality of life.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
So we appreciate you and much continued success to you.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Much thank for having us.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Thank you be blessed. Right. Well, that was mister Michael
and Tempa Cohler, the owners of Special Needs and Treats,
and they're doing some amazing work in the community and
you know, we wish them all continue success. And I'm
so excited about those young people of various ages who
(20:32):
get to work with them. Uh And and you know,
God is really gonna bless the you know, the work
that they're doing because it's such a big need in
this community getting people to get jobs. And so I'm
very thankful that they're out there and doing what they do.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Again for being a part of disability world today and
looking forward to bringing you some other great community leaders
and business owners who are out here doing some really
positive things for people in the disability community and making
a real difference. So thank you for being a part
and until next time, you'd be blessed.
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