Helping Link: Fostering Our Diverse Culture

Macrina & Helping Link

Helping Link teaching an ESL class at our bakery. Photo provided by Helping Link.

We wholeheartedly embrace cultural diversity here at Macrina. Not only is this core value evident in the food we create, it’s exemplified by our employees. A large portion of our wholesale bakery and pastry teams began working for us shortly after moving to America from Vietnam.

Wanting to support our employees as they transitioned into their new lives, we teamed up with Helping Link. This nonprofit organization assists Vietnamese immigrants through a myriad of social services.

“We began working with Helping Link in 2009,” says Macrina Bakery co-owner Scott France. “We were looking for a way to provide ESL classes at the bakery for our Vietnamese employees, and Helping Link was able to come to the bakery to teach classes after work.”

In 2012 alone, the organization helped more than 1,000 participants access things likes employment, housing and childcare, and they provided classes ranging from citizenship to technology.

We are honored to be a sponsor of Helping Link’s 20th Anniversary Gala, which takes place on September 22 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Mercer Island Community Center. Those wishing to purchase tickets to the Gala or provide a donation can do so here.