Cupcakes With A Cause: Garden City Bakery Empowering Adults With Disabilities To Join Annual Food Event

GARDEN CITY, NY — The Garden City-based bakery Special Sweets will be participating in an annual event to support children and adults with developmental disabilities.

The bakery itself provides hands-on vocational training and has a diverse team of individuals with Autism, Intellectual, and Developmental Disabilities. They work side by side with ABA and Life Skills instructors to bake cupcakes.

Special Sweets Bakery will be participating in the Queens Centers for Progress' 30th Annual Evening of Fine Food on Tues., Feb. 24, to support programs that serve more than 1,200 individuals with developmental disabilities. More than 700 guests are expected to attend this culinary benefit that will bring together regional restaurants.

Westbury resident and co-owner of Special Sweets Bakery , Patty Castrogiova, said she has been with the bakery since it began in April of 2021. The bakery initially started in her home before moving to the BOCES administrative building in 2022.

She said the bakery's mission is to empower adults with hands-on vocational training, foster independence, and provide essential job skills.

"It [the bakery] symbolizes a dream we had when our students were aging out of the school system," she said. "We wanted to stay together and form a business with a united purpose, allowing us to apply our vocational skills to our cupcakery."

Castroviova said they are very excited to showcase their baked goods and enjoy the opportunity to reconnect with old friends.

Patricia Graca, 27, is one of the bakery's original seven students who aged out in 2021. The bakery said that Graca has earned the role of supervisor and is "truly the backbone of our bakery."

Graca shared that her favorite part of Special Sweets is seeing her friends every day, as the bakery feels like a second family.

Director of Development at Queens Center for Progress Wendy Gennaro said they are thrilled to welcome the Special Sweets Bakery to its event.

"As a Long Island business dedicated to creating meaningful opportunities for individuals with autism and developmental disabilities, Special Sweets shares our mission and values in a powerful way," Gennaro said. "For more than 75 years, Queens Centers for Progress has worked to support this community across Queens, and it’s incredibly exciting to partner with an organization that is doing such impactful work just beyond our borough."