‘Breaking of bread is a universal
hospitality and is all the more
meaningful in its religious context.’
Keeping it local Part of Holje and Kelley’s passion in opening the bakery was to support and bring attention to the high- quality goods being produced in their community. Tey source 80 percent of their ingredients from within 200 miles of the bakery. Some of those ingredients, such as the flours they use from the North Dakota Mill, are even within walk- ing distance of their kitchen. “Taking the time and effort to
make sure that we’re using the best possible ingredients is more chal- lenging—and more expensive—but it’s worth it,” Kelley said. “Keeping the transportation to a minimum is part of our stewardship of the Earth and, as such, is a reflection of our faith.” For the ingredients they can’t
acquire locally, Holje and Kelley make sure they are purchased from fair trade and sustainable sources. “Fair and just trade, sustainable
sourcing, and low environmental impact are all values we hold dear, and we try to honor them in both our personal lives and business practices,” Kelley said.
Giving back Holje and Kelley appreciate every- thing their community has to offer, and they return their thanks by giving back. “A good bakery can be a destina-
tion in itself, a hub for community,” Holje said. “We wanted Dakota Harvest Bakers to not only be a destination for our customers but to be a business that gives back to the community as well.” Last year Holje and Kelley were
able to give more than $21,000 in cash and in-kind food donations to local charities. Dakota Harvest Bak- ers regularly supports community arts and educational organizations, the humane society, and human rights and refugee groups. Holje and Kelley also support
area churches through their bak- ery’s staple product by providing free communion bread to any church that wants it, an idea that was sparked by their friend, Kathy Fick, campus minister at Christus Rex Lutheran Campus Center at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks. “We’d baked some communion
bread for their worship a few times and she wanted to pay for it,” Holje said. “It just felt wrong to sell com- munion bread, so we told her we would just give Christus Rex bread for every service.” Fick said she appreciated their
graciousness, so she urged them to extend the offer to other churches in town. Holje and Kelley took her up
on it. With no discrimination to any denomination or faith, Dakota Harvest now provides commu- nion bread to more than 15 area churches—Lutheran, Method- ist, Presbyterian, Baptist, United Church of Christ and independent/ nondenominational. Te bakers have also provided challah, Jewish braided bread, to the local syna- gogue and have made samoon, Iraqi leavened flatbread, for the break- ing of the fast at Eid al-Fitr for the Grand Forks Islamic community. “Breaking of bread is a universal
hospitality and is all the more mean- ingful in its religious context,” Kelley said. But Holje and Kelley serve more
than bread and baked goods at their bakery. “Tey’re serving as witnesses
through their living example of God’s generous love—the ultimate sustenance,” Fick said. “In our bap- tismal liturgy, we are called to serve as Jesus did, and to work for justice and peace, and I think Paul and George have found a really concrete way to live that out in their daily lives.”
Author bio: Brandsrud is an associate editor of The Lutheran.
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November 2015 29
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