St. Louis nonprofit Fork in the Road hosts Mother’s Day breakfast with artisan treats by refugee chefs

The Fork in the Road Foundation is celebrating Mother’s Day with a community breakfast and handcrafted dessert boxes, while helping refugee women build businesses and share their stories.

This Mother’s Day, a St. Louis nonprofit is inviting families to celebrate with something more meaningful than flowers or chocolate.

Fork in the Road Foundation is launching a dual event—a Syrian-inspired community breakfast and a curated box of artisan treats—both created by refugee women chefs building new lives in St. Louis.

At its heart, it’s about bringing people together in a more meaningful way. “These initiatives offer more than a meal,” says executive director Jessica Bueler. “They provide a direct path to economic independence for refugee and immigrant women.”

At the center of the event is chef Mawda Altayan, a Damascus native whose journey to St. Louis began with displacement during the Syrian civil war and years of uncertainty before resettling in the U.S. What started as cooking for her family eventually became both a business and a way to connect. Today, she runs Damascus Food, a catering company rooted in family recipes that she learned by hand, writing down notes from relatives and practicing dishes until they were just right. Read more here.