Italian Bread Shop: Hundreds of people, including Mayor Domenic Sarno, offer to help remodel beloved Springfield bakery

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Italian Bread Shop at 187 Orange Street in Springfield has been offering a variety of breads and baked goods since 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

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Jenny Santos noticed that her father’s bakery, Italian Bread Shop, was due for a fresh coating of paint. With financial challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Santos knew it’ll be difficult buying enough paint for the bakery, much less find the time to to actually paint the bakery.

She took to Facebook for assistance.

“For all of you that know my dad he’s the kindest person imaginable,” Santos wrote in the social media post. “He’d probably not [going to] be happy that I’m asking for some help this morning but oh well. The shop is pretty old and needs a simple paint over inside. Simple white.”

Hours later, Santos’ post and inbox would be flooded with an outpour of love and support from Springfield and neighboring community members.

Hundreds of people volunteered to donate gallons of white paint, money, supplies and hands to help remodel the Springfield bakery.

“The amount of responses have been overwhelming,” Santos said. “Even women who own cleaning services offered to do cleanup before and after.”

Located at 187 Orange St., the Italian Bread Shop has been serving delicious baked goods in the Springfield community since 1978.

The shop’s one and only longtime owner, Jose Santos, has been recognized as a well-respected and benevolent member of Springfield for decades.

“He would give the shirt off his back for anybody,” Jenny Santos stated about her father.

In just one example of her father’s generosity, Jenny Santos said if a person looking to buy $10 worth of bread from her father was short money, “he’ll say ‘don’t worry about it, you’re going to take all the bread’.”

Making money off baking bread was never Jose Santos’ goal, his daughter said. He has a passion for the art of bread baking and has always had a streak of kindness that pushes him to give back to the community whenever he can.

With the demand for baked goods diminishing and the price of materials rising, Jenny Santos said it’s been difficult keeping the business afloat.

“It’s a struggle week to week,” said Jenny Santos.

Mayor Domenic Sarno and Massachusetts Rep. Carlos Gonzalez have offered the community bakery a helping hand. The legislators are in the midst of developing a grant to help remodel, repair and finance the Italian Bread Shop.

Jose Santos, originally from the Dominican Republic, learned how to bake bread while working with Italian bakers over the years. His Italian mentors would later help him open the Springfield bakery in 1978.

“You gotta take your time,” one of the things Jose Santos said he loves about the bread baking process in a documentary produced by family friend, Stephen Keaney.

Jenny Santos said she has a difficult decision to make tonight. “I feel bad because we have so many offers of people that want to [paint]. But obviously, we can’t have like 500 people in the shop,” Jenny Santos said that number was not COVID-friendly. “Today shows kindness still exists in the world.”

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