Mama Bear Sweet Treats supports LGBTQ at South Press coffee shop – Knoxville News Sentinel
Chrissie Batts owned and operated a catering business with her husband in Chattanooga when her first child was born. The couple struggled through the recession in 2008, and not long after, Batts’ husband was transferred to Knoxville for work.
“I would travel down to Chattanooga to keep the business going,” she said. “We did a lot of pre-made meals for when people had babies, or you could grab dinner from the cooler. We also had pimento cheese, chicken salad and spinach dips for tailgating.”
Batts was burnt out and left the food industry.
From 2021:UT leaders Randy Boyd and Donde Plowman commit to building trust with LGBTQ community
Previously:Knox Pride outreach center serves Knoxville’s LGBTQ communities in unexpected ways
“I have always made these sugar cookies that everyone loved, and people said I should start selling them,” she said. “After the cottage laws changed during COVID, things changed. I told my husband that I feel like having already owned a business; before that my heart wouldn’t be in it. I didn’t want to just sell cookies.”
At the time Batts’ son, Zane, had come out as gay and identified as nonbinary. Motivated by her sense of social justice and wanting to give back to the Knox Pride community, she decided to launch Mama Bear Sweet Treats.
“I sell my cookies at South Press Coffee and once a month at vendor events at Knox Pride and donate a portion of the profits to other LGBTQ services,” Batts said.
“My old personality would have wanted to make this big, but as long as I’m doing good and helping others, that fills my cup and does not burn me out. So far, the opportunities have been exactly what I needed.”
Things have changed since Batts ran her catering business in Chattanooga. One of those things is social media.
“I hope to be able to use that platform to educate people. We are pretty vocal about having a queer kiddo and what our family unit looks like, that we are just living our lives.
“We were always supportive, but there are just not a lot of people talking about the experience of parenting a trans kid, and the grieving process is not something that people talk about,” Batts said. “It’s a big passion of mine to educate people. There are people that want to be supportive, that don’t know what questions to ask. I’m an open book.”
Zane’s best friend started a Rainbow Teen support group as part of her Girl Scouts silver project. “She wanted to do something in the LGBTQ community and did research into the homeless youth situation. She knew that was too hard to take on, so she decided to do an inclusive space,” Batts said.
The Rainbow Teen Group started meeting at South Press, but when Knox Pride center opened about eight months ago, they moved there. “The group is pretty big, and there is a group for parents too; there are other families like us.”
At the moment, Batts delivers Mama Bear Sweet Treats fresh cookies twice a week to South Press. “It is about six dozen cookies a week, and we had a fundraiser for Knox Pride at Hi-Wire Brewing last week,” Batts said.
Mama Bear Sweet Treats may not be the fanciest decorated cookie out there, but Batts said hers are pretty and delicious. “I do rainbow designs. Since it is close to Halloween and fall, I’ve been doing black or white with rainbow-colored spiderwebs.”
The biggest order to date is for the upcoming Knox Pride Homecoming event and parade. “I’m making 1,000 to sell at the Knox Pride food tent on Oct. 1 and 2 at World’s Fair Park,” Batts said. “It is the biggest thing by far that I have ever done, and I’ll also be helping Knox Pride with their other food.”
