Cookie non-profit employing disabled grows, hires

LARGO, Fla. - The cookie makers in a Largo commercial kitchen have been baking batches for one year.

Two parents cooked-up the idea for ‘Casey's Cookies.’ Their daughter, Casey, was born with a rare disorder.  Their kitchen, they hoped, would put others like her to work.

Barry and Lori Torman invited us to visit in January when they were just starting.  Today we came back to see how things have changed.

"Casey has made tremendous progress,” said Barry Torman, Casey’s dad.

And when we came back, we found out something happened over the past year -- something great.

"Orders,” Casey Torman said and lots of them.

More than a thousand orders poured-in from people and companies who thought the Tormans were onto something.

On Wednesday, Casey helped package their biggest order ever --15,000 cookies.

And there's more.

"Leah, Linda... Theresa," listed Casey.

These are the names of the new developmentally disabled employees who work with volunteers.  They have doubled their kitchen space and they have four new cookie flavors.

Cranberry and blueberry are Casey’s new favorites.

With all the success, you would think Casey's parents would stop there. They haven't.

"We realized that our mission needed to expand. We needed to be more than just the Tampa Bay area organization. We needed to be able to package this up and be able to make it available to parents of special needs kids elsewhere," said Casey’s dad.

The Tormans hope one day Casey's Cookies will create more jobs and kitchens like theirs will be born in other cities.

"And in that way, we could ultimately change the face of disabilities," he said.

Maybe it'll happen next year.

Those 15,000 cookies were delivered to Westminster Communities in St. Pete.

You can order online at www.caseyscookies.org .