Tom Triebwasser got his start with the Ascienzo Family Foundation as an inaugural ambassador with Sunflower Bakery’s Pastry Arts Employment Training Program, back in 2015. The bakery’s program allows young adults with learning differences to gain the skills for job success in the pastry arts, baking, and related food industries. Sunflower Bakery is the only organization providing these services in the state of Maryland.
With Tom’s help, the foundation has been working with the bakery for several years and we are humbled that our rewarded grant money has helped enable Sunflower Bakery staff to provide general work readiness, employee development training, and specialized skills training to dozens of students.
30 Likes, 1 Comments - Sunflower Bakery (@sunflower.bakery) on Instagram: "Come and learn more about our Employment Training Programs including our new Pastry Arts Baking..."
As of 2017, over 85% of graduates in the program secured employment within six months of program completion. The funds also supported directed outreach which helped to raise understanding and participation through formal and informal channels including MCPSS and Montgomery College Campuses and a wide range of community organizations dedicated to at-risk culturally diverse youth.
“Sunflower Bakery’s mission to enable people with learning differences to have meaningful careers is what inspires me to continue my advocacy with the bakery,” says Tom. With several years of advocacy under his belt, working with the foundation has changed the way he is civically engaged, “I've become more involved in other non-profits to serve my community.”
After graduating from Red Hook High School in 2001, Triebwasser studied Electrical Engineering at Binghamton University and System Engineering at Cornell University. Today, he works as a solutions architects in the Greater Washington DC Area.