PALM COAST, Fla. – For adults with autism and related disabilities, graduating from high school can bring an unexpected challenge: finding meaningful programs, friendships and opportunities to continue building the skills needed for adulthood.
For participants in Cedar Bridge Foundation’s Cooking With Confidence program, those opportunities are being created one recipe at a time.
Participants, families, volunteers and supporters gathered at the Palm Coast Elks Lodge to celebrate the program’s latest graduates, recognizing not only what they learned in the kitchen, but the confidence, independence and friendships they gained along the way.
Cedar Bridge Foundation co-founders Terrie Baker and Maria Dowling launched Cooking With Confidence as a pilot program in 2025. Designed for adults ages 18 and older, the eight-week program uses a commercial kitchen to teach practical life and vocational skills. About 20 to 22 adults participated in the initial pilot, growing to approximately 30 participants this year.
“It’s about more than just learning recipes,” Baker told those gathered for the graduation. Participants practice skills including “following directions, kitchen safety, teamwork, problem solving, trying new things, and becoming more independent.”
Those lessons can translate directly into daily life — and potentially the workplace.
Participants learn food safety, preparation, cleanup and how to use equipment including a commercial dishwasher and oven. Organizers intentionally sought a commercial kitchen so participants could become comfortable in an environment similar to one they might encounter in culinary employment.
At the graduation, Dowling reminded participants that the experience is something they can include on a resume if they choose to pursue culinary employment.
But families say the impact extends well beyond job preparation.
Searching for Resources
Ana Monaghan found Cedar Bridge while searching for activities for her adult son, Emilio Favoris Cordero, after he moved home. Having relocated from New York, she found herself navigating a much different landscape than families encounter while their children are still school-aged.
“My son wasn’t living with us. He was moving back home with me, and I need to find activities for him to do, because he already is an adult,” Monaghan said. “When they are in a school age, you have more services and everything.”
Finding Cedar Bridge provided more than an activity. It connected her with other parents facing many of the same challenges.
“It’s huge,” Monaghan said of having community resources available for adults with disabilities.
She described finding services as a “guessing game,” with families often having to search extensively for programs, funding and information. Through Cedar Bridge, she has connected with parents who share resources and help one another navigate services.
Building Skills Through Education
That sense of belonging can be equally important for participants.
Meg Schelling watched proudly as her younger sister, Dana, 23, graduated from the program.
“It makes me so happy to see her find community with other people, because that’s something that I think she really struggled with after she finished her high school program,” Schelling said.
Through Cedar Bridge’s classes and social events, she said, Dana has been able “to make other friends and find a community with people her age.”
For Cheryl Bunsen, that opportunity has meant watching her daughter, Chloe, continue to grow through not one, but two rounds of Cooking With Confidence.
Chloe participated in the original pilot program before returning for the intermediate class.
“It was very exciting for her,” Cheryl said. “She did well and was very happy and thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Chloe was equally pleased with the experience.
“I enjoyed it,” she said.
And when the conversation turned to a favorite recipe, breakfast earned an enthusiastic response.
“Oh, I love pancakes,” Chloe said.
Her return for a second round illustrates another important element of programs for adults with special needs: continuity. Instead of ending after a single class, Cooking With Confidence gave Chloe an opportunity to return, build upon skills she had already learned and advance to the next level alongside a familiar community.
For Cheryl, seeing her daughter reach another milestone made graduation particularly meaningful.
“I’m so proud of you today,” she told Chloe during the celebration.
Families are also seeing lessons from the kitchen follow participants home. Organizers said some adults who previously would not approach a stove are now scrambling eggs, flipping burgers and preparing recipes independently. One parent said her daughter now makes her breakfast; another shared that her daughter made garlic bread from scratch.
Giving Back as a Community
For volunteer instructor Lynn Kulka, who works at Texas Roadhouse and assists with the Monday class, those moments of discovery are what make the program special.
“I absolutely love it,” Kulka said.
The most rewarding part, she said, is “watching each and every one of them light up when they figure it out.”
When a participant struggles with a task, Kulka said, the answer isn’t to give up — it is to find another way to accomplish it.
Cooking With Confidence has also depended on a community willing to make room for the program.
Cedar Bridge received a $10,000 grant through Florida’s autism specialty license plate grant program, while the Palm Coast Elks Lodge provided access to its commercial kitchen and donated $750 worth of food ingredients. Organizers said the lodge has already offered its kitchen again next year, and Cedar Bridge has reapplied for grant funding.
Palm Coast Elks Lodge Exalted Ruler Pete Lehnertz said seeing participants take pride in what they create has been especially rewarding.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in the lounge or been in the building, and they run up and go, ‘Hey, we made this. Do you want to try it?’” Lehnertz said. “It’s super, super cool.”
Opening the lodge to programs such as Cedar Bridge is part of the Elks’ commitment to being active in the community, he said.
Growing Opportunities
Cedar Bridge hopes Cooking With Confidence can eventually reach even more adults. Baker and Dowling are considering expansion into Volusia County or Jacksonville, where families have already expressed interest. Two participants traveled from Jacksonville for the program, but organizers said the distance ultimately proved difficult.
Because Cedar Bridge is operated by volunteers, additional volunteers and community partners will be essential to any expansion.
For now, graduation was about celebrating what participants had already accomplished.
Each graduate was called forward to receive a certificate and an apron, with organizers sharing something special about each participant.
“Today’s all about celebrating how far you all have come,” Baker told the graduates. “It’s about you. The confidence you gained and everything that you have accomplished.”
For adults who can find themselves with fewer structured opportunities once school ends, Cooking With Confidence offers something difficult to measure with a certificate: a place to keep learning, contributing, building independence and making friends.
And sometimes, it starts with something as simple as learning to make pancakes.
