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Our Community

We take pride in being actively involved in our community. For us, that means always trying to find ways to give back to the people we serve.

Because of the experiences that we’ve had—both as a family and a company—we’ve chosen to focus our efforts on promoting breast cancer research, feeding the hungry, and helping the disadvantaged gain skills.

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Promoting Breast Cancer Research

Gretchen Mathers was an operating partner at Schwartz Brothers Bakery and Gretchen’s. She was an early pioneer for women in business and a good friend to many. Gretchen was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1979, but she became a breast cancer survivor and went on to inspire and lead until her passing in 2007.

In Gretchen’s memory, we have provided support for organizations involved with breast cancer research and education, including Swedish Hospital Cancer Center, Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

You can help, too: Every time you buy a Schwartz Brothers Bakery Pink Cookie, we donate a portion of the proceeds to benefit breast cancer research—so you’ll be making a difference to the thousands of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.

We also make in-kind donations to events for organizations involved with cancer research and education. If you work for one of these organizations, download our event support form for more information.

Download Event Support Form
Gretchen Mathers

Feeding the Hungry

We’ve chosen Food Lifeline as our partner for fighting hunger. Food Lifeline approaches hunger as a solvable logistical problem: Working together with food manufacturers, farmers, grocery stores, and restaurants, they come up with creative solutions to redirect surplus food to people in need. Food Lifeline provides over 88,000 meals a day to local food assistance programs.

The Food Lifeline depot is just a few blocks from our Seattle bakery, and we donate all of our good quality production overruns to Food Lifeline.

Learn more

Helping the Disadvantaged Gain Skills

We work with FareStart to help homeless and disadvantaged individuals gain the skills they need to become self-sufficient. FareStart provides a community that transforms lives by empowering homeless and disadvantaged men, women, and families to achieve self-sufficiency through life skills, job training, and employment in the food service industry. Since 1992, FareStart has provided opportunities for nearly 7,000 people to transform their lives, while also serving over 7 million meals to people in need.

Schwartz Brothers Bakery holds quarterly training sessions for the FareStart culinary academy and places qualified graduates interested in baking careers.

Learn more

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