Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth
business, cherubs café, cherubs candy bouquets, food, holy angels, restaurant,
When businesses or individuals in Gaston County need a gift, they order a candy bouquet from Cherubs Candy Bouquets, and in the process, they support people with developmental and physical disabilities.
Cherubs Candy Bouquets and the adjacent Cherubs Café on Main Street in downtown Belmont are subsidiaries of Holy Angels, a nonprofit corporation that is home to about 75 disabled children and adults. Residents can receive vocational training by working at Cherubs Café or assembling the Cherubs Candy Bouquets.
“The candy bouquets include anything from the best chocolates in the world to peppermints and sugar-free candies,” says Lee Davis, community relations director at Holy Angels. “Our residents do incredibly well at building the bouquets, and meanwhile they get job skills, earn a paycheck, build their self-esteem and give back to the community.”
Holy Angels residents can also take orders, serve and help prepare food at Cherubs Café. The café features gourmet and specialty coffees, ice cream and fresh-baked desserts, and homemade soups, salads and sandwiches.
Sister Nancy Nance, director of information and outreach services at Holy Angels, has been working with the organization for 22 years.
“What’s most enjoyable is knowing you’re making a difference in the lives of these people, and watching and getting to know them,” Nance says. “I see little miracles happen on a daily basis, like someone making a candy rose for the first time or seeing them making a quiche at Cherubs Café. It may have taken them two years to learn that skill, but they’ve finally mastered it.”
Story by Jessica Mozo
Photo by Brian McCord
