ASHEBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina mother is using her pain and the power of baking to teach others about addiction.

Susan Hunt is the owner of Keaton’s Kakes, a licensed home processing kitchen. She uses the business to help share memories of her son, who died from a drug overdose.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 106,000 people in the country died from a drug overdose in 2022. North Carolina responded to over 3,000 drug overdose deaths from 2021 to 2022.

Hunt is also the founder of Keaton’s Place, a recovery resource center in Asheboro that helps those addicted to drugs and alcohol recover — free of charge.

To help with funding of Keaton’s Place, she bakes and sells cakes that are special to her and her daughter Ella, because it’s a family tradition. They call them Keaton’s Kakes. 

“Because when Keaton was in his addiction, I called everybody and I couldn’t get anybody to help me. Or you’d end up talking to somebody out in California, you know, that really just wanted your money. So I think this [helps folks in] North Carolina,” Hunt said.“Because when Keaton was in his addiction, I called everybody and I couldn’t get anybody to help me. Or you’d end up talking to somebody out in California, you know, that really just wanted your money. So I think this [helps folks in] North Carolina,” Hunt said.

They help people across the state. But she says the goal of all of this is to raise awareness.

“You know, you’ve got to hate the disease, but you can’t hate the person because addiction is a disease. And this is my way of being able to start a conversation about addiction,” Hunt said.

The conversation stems from her 20-year-old son, Keaton, who died four years ago from a fentanyl overdose.

“He would go to some of these parties and they were smoking pot and drinking at the parties, and they came upon some really good pot and found out later that it was laced with heroin,” Hunt said.

While he was in rehab, Keaton became the house cook. His mother baked the cakes as a way to put money on his food card.

“And unfortunately, you know, after he passed away, I think it was about two months later, people started calling and going, ‘I’m so sorry about your son, but are you still baking those cakes?’” Hunt said.

Hunt took her pain and turned it into a learning moment, using the adversity as therapy for herself.

“And I need to make sure that all you other parents keep an eye on your kids because I was that mom that would say, you know, ‘Not my child.’ No, Keaton would do a lot of things, but he would never do that. I was one of them. And I think that if I didn’t do this, I would probably be in a fetal position in my bedroom every day,” Hunt said.

The cakes are used as a life-saving conversation over the dinner table.

“None of us is doing this for money. This is all just for the good of helping people. And it’s a God thing. I’m telling you, we have so many signs that we get from Keaton. It’s unreal. But we know we’re doing the right thing and we’re just hopefully that we’re here to help somebody to lead them down the right path,” Hunt said.

Keaton’s Kakes is a licensed home processing kitchen, and cakes can be purchased through its Facebook page.

Keaton’s Place helps people who are dealing with drug and alcohol abuse looking to get to help, by finding them places for treatment and rehab. If you are battling with drug and alcohol abuse and need help finding resources and treatment, you can click here.