SOUTH JORDAN, Utah – Ardent Mills donated 2,500 pounds of flour to Schmidt’s Pastry Cottage to help with its free bread project during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Steve Borg, owner of Schmidt’s Pastry Cottage, said this is a way to help keep his employees working and help others in need.

“There’s a lot of good people out there,” he said. My customers, people coming in here are just tremendous people.”

Recent events have left Borg’s business feeling the pinch. The lack of public gatherings as a result of the global pandemic means he’s seen entire orders evaporate.

But last week, he decided to give away loaves of bread as a way to keep his employees working and help his fellow Utahns.

“I want to take care of them because they took care of me all these years,” he said.

There’s a catch though: Each person receives two loaves of bread. One for themselves, and one to share.

“With keeping social distancing in mind, please share it with someone who would benefit from paying it forward,” a sticker on each loaf reads. “We’re all in this together and our hope is to spread some comfort at this time.”

Bonnie Dienslake with Ardent Mills said they saw what Borg was doing and decided to do what they could to help.

“We saw them donating loaves of bread to the community, and we thought we’d do our part to donate one of the biggest ingredients in bread,” she said.

Ardent Mills then donated 2,500 pounds of flour for the project.

“It’s been amazing,” Borg said. “Makes you want to cry with all the good people out there.”