CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — When Tina Syracuse's 5-year-old son, Brian, was diagnosed with celiac disease in 1999, there wern't many gluten-free options readily available.

"I had to learn how to bake bread. I had to, there was no choice and so that was now 19 years ago," she said.

Now, after opening to the public in September of 2017, Brian's Best Gluten Free Bakery is sold in stores all over Western New York.

But she didn't stop there.

After her daughter was born with Down syndrome, as a mother, Syracuse worried about her being able to have the same experiences as everyone else. So Special Kneads Bakery was born.

"We thought we'd add the other element of the Special Kneads Bakery, thinking long-term of when Claire was over age 21 and she aged out of school and this would be a place for her, not only her to work but her peers to work as well," she said.

Special Kneads Bakery operates as a "little sister" business to Brian's Best. With the help of Claire's piano teacher, Cristin DeCamville, they started their first program in February of 2018, Treats and Tunes.

"Treats and Tunes is a program where my DeCamville Piano business and Syracuse's gluten-free bakery business have teamed up," said DeCamville.

The first of what they hope will be many programs for Special Kneads Bakery combines two activities that allow the group to express themselves and learn important skills in a way they might not normally feel comfortable doing.

"We are spending part of our time in the kitchen, baking and Tina is leading us through that, and the individuals are all helping and it's a big team effort to bake some sort of wonderful treat," DeCamville said. "Then the rest of the time we are doing music together, we're singing together, doing karaoke, playing instruments. A lot of our guests really come to life when the music starts." 

"It's amazing how many of these individuals don't know the difference between a tablespoon and a teaspoon, or a quarter cup and a full cup and so this gives them the opportunity to learn valuable everyday functional skills in the kitchen that they can use for the rest of their life within an environment that's fun, within an environment that's with their peers," said Syracuse.

Her goal is to collaborate with even more businesses or anyone that would have something to offer to the special needs community whether it's art, crafts, exercise or even bingo.

She hopes this will encourage more programs, not run by her, to become available.

"I want other people to do this too, because I would like my daughter to go to a program that's not run by mom, and it's important that people know that the families of the people with disabilities will be on board, they will come, like that expression, if you build it and they will come, do it people will come," said Syracuse.

And at Brian's Best, she also wants to offer employment and internship opportunities for anyone with special needs that's interested.

"My favorite expression is, be the change you wish to see in the world, and so this is out labor of love, for Claire and Brian," said Syracuse.