Photo by Heather Bell – Stephanie Sutphin (left) drops off some of her homemade bread to her dad, Tom Starnes (right), who delivers loaves of the made-from-scratch goodness to people who need it.
Heather Bell
RADFORD – A retired Radford City Schools teacher has been using her time in COVID-19 isolation to make homemade bread for friends, neighbors and people in need.
Stephanie Sutphin has been baking made-from-scratch breads for a long time, and when the government-imposed COVID-19 related restrictions began, she decided to help out in a small way that is bringing big smiles to people in the community.
Sutphin’s Spooky Hollow Bread is a big hit among Sutphin’s friends, and now it is being given out as a small gesture during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I make breads often and my friends starting asking to buy loaves,” Sutphin said recently. “When this virus started, with lock downs and shortage of foods, I decided I could help out a few, in a small way, by donating a loaf of homemade bread to someone in need with every order that a customer made.”
Sutphin, who calls her breads "Spooky Hollow Bread" because she lives at Spooky Hollow at the lake, then called on her dad, former longtime Radford Mayor Tom Starnes, to deliver bread “to people he thinks it would help out,” said Sutphin.
“It is great for him because he is such a people person,” she said.
“To date, I have made 40-plus loaves for individuals that need it,” Sutphin added. “My customers have started asking me to make certain number of loaves and deliver to others, not just them.”
Starnes said he has had phone calls and messages from people who have received the free bread, thanking him not only for the bread but the act of kindness as well.
“I leave it on the doorstep with a note,” said Starnes. “I’ve delivered mainly to elderly who can’t really get out on their own to the store, and some who have cancer or sickness. They really appreciate it.”
Sutphin has also had local businesses, for instance JBR Vineyards, step up to donate the cost of loaves.
Small business owner Jessee Ring of JBR Vineyards donates several loaves of bread recently to those in need.
Sutphin says she enjoys making bread for friends, and, in this case, for people in need, but has no plans to expand her operation into a commercial one.
“I bake and cook for fun,”she said. “I like to say it’s my therapy. It makes me feel good to give someone something I’ve made from scratch. I don’t plan to make it a business. I retired from elementary school teaching, this past year, and have always said I bake for fun and once it feels like a job, I quit.”
“Gifting the bread is a small gesture for this crisis but it’s something,” she added. “Homemade bread is a comfort food and that’s what many of us need right now.”
