World Autism Awareness Day is just a a few days away, globally commemorated on the 2nd of April.
On the 2nd April, the team at Mamma’s Sugar is launching a new product called ‘I’m not a doughnut’ to commemorate this special day. All profits from the sales of our new product on the 2nd of April will be donated to The Malta Trust Foundation in aid of the project Villabianca – A Centre for Music and the Arts – for children and young people with disabilities. In addition to this, any child with autism gets a free treat from Mamma’s Sugar.
Allow us to tell you our story of how this came to be and what inspired us.
Our customer story with Eli...
Before we opened our first shop in November of 2021 in Ta’ Xbiex, we were operating only as a take-away establishment in Marsascala, mostly receiving orders through Bolt & Wolt. On September 24th, our Wolt app rang with a new order notification. As soon as I started reading the order, I started crying. My mother, who doesn’t speak English asked me what is happening. I read the note on the order for her and she started crying as well. We prepared the order and my mom made one special cupcake for the little guy that the sweet treats were for, while i penned down a small sticky note for the mom and stuck it to the delivery bag. What happened next took us by surprise, the lady who placed the order for her autistic son had posted us on Are You Being Served?(Rubs of Moira and Francesca’s The Original) on Facebook and our social media pages started to explode. We had no idea that such a small gesture can make such a big difference to someone. The post went viral with over 1500 people liking it and hundreds commenting which made us feel so blessed!
We decided to invite Eli & Jo along with her partner to visit our shop in Ta’ Xbiex and tell them more about the idea we had about doing a small corporate-social responsibility event on World Autism Awareness Day so I reached out to Jo on Facebook in order to check if she recalls who we are and if she remembered us. She loved the idea and sent us this photo, that she still keeps the note on her fridge 🙂
Eli was among the first to try our new product called "I'm not a doughnut"
Meeting Eli along with Jo and her partner was lovely, it had been the first time Eli was out since COVID imposed restrictions on our movements and although at moments it seemed overwhelming for him he was quite happy and smiling for most of their visit.
Jo explained to us how Eli was non-verbal and she described the services provided by The Malta Trust Foundation through their project at Villabianca. Jo said that the Villabianca project has empowered them to express themselves in a safe environment. She described the enjoyment that Eli gets out of his sessions at Villabianca and how she would like to donate the funds we raised to this project by The Malta Trust Foundation.
After looking at the services of The Malta Trust Foundation and the project of Villiabianca, we believe that this is a very deserving organisation to make our donation to.
We look forward to seeing you on the 2nd of April.
Our opening hours are from 10AM – 11PM
Contact Number: 2799 5788
The Malta Trust Foundation (TMTF) develops initiatives to support young people and communities that are facing particular challenges and those who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
The Foundation supports vulnerable communities through initiatives that are both educational to empower to reach their full potential.
The Malta Trust Foundation’s project Villabianca welcomes children and young people with disabilities access to music and the arts. It was set up by The Malta Trust foundation is 2021 and is based in Santa Venera. Villabianca provides a space for music and artistic expression and assists individuals to untap a pathway of communication and self-expression whilst developing a sense of empowerment and encourages active participation in the community.
