BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Brentwood bakery's sparkly Dolly Parton cookies are selling out daily — and the man behind them has a deeply personal reason for wanting to give back.
The Puffy Muffin has already sold more than 7,500 Dolly-themed cookies, with profits benefiting Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. The frosted treats feature Dolly words and phrases, and the timing is meaningful: September is Deaf Awareness Month.
Baker Clint Akins came up with the idea, and his connection to Dolly goes far beyond fandom. Akins lost his hearing as a child after a serious illness. When Dolly visited his school to read to students, the session was interpreted so he could follow along — making sure he was included just like everyone else.
"Okay, so when Dolly went to the school to read a book, it was interpreted to teach him what she was reading," Berenice Vasquez, who helped Akins communicate during the interview, said.
"So she was even thinking of you and making sure that you could take part," I said.
With Dolly's help, Akins learned word by word alongside his classmates as he was navigating life as a deaf person. That experience stayed with him.
"I want support the library and the deaf all around here learn, read first deaf when I was a child," Akins said.
"For him its very important because a hearing and deaf child they have the same opportunity to learn word by word," Vasquez said.
Akins said his connection to Dolly runs deep.
"I have a lot of her emotions, love, know about her, she know about what's deaf," Akins said.
His favorite Dolly song? "I Will Always Love You" — and the sentiment behind it drives his desire to give back to kids like him, through connection and through books.
Demand for the cookies has been strong since they launched.
"People have been asking and we have been running out of them daily," Kristi Stone Green, owner of the PUffy Muffin said.
As for the cookies themselves, customers have had a simple reaction: "Wow".
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Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com
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