September 9, 2015
A ‘bridge’ to battle homelessness Recipes
Back-to-school basics
Community Voices
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By Dr. Tiffany Anderson
Feature Section
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Hazelwood Harvestfest Submitted photo
Bridge Bread founders Fred and Sharon Domke sell Bridge Bread at Lucky’s Market.
Bridge Bread provides employment opportunities to people living on the streets By Sara Hardin When a group of volunteers baked the first batch of Bridge Bread in September of 2011, it is likely that they hadn’t considered the possibility of opening the first Bridge Bread retail location four years later on Cherokee Street. Even so, the program, which employs formerly homeless individuals, has been consistent in its efforts to tackle homelessness and to provide formerly homeless individuals with job opportunities. Fred Domke, who founded Bridge Bread along with his wife, Sharon, created the program with the goal to provide disadvantaged individuals with fair wages and the possibility to establish a positive work record. These workers are trained to bake the various Bridge Bread products, which are then made available for sale at the new bakery location, or through the 35 churches in every corner of the St. Louis area that offer the program’s bread to their congregations. “The only paid employees of Bridge Bread are formerly homeless bakers,” explained Domke. “Every one of them
were on the street and homeless when they were hired, and every one of them has since found housing and is no longer suffering homelessness. Everyone else, including myself, works as a volunteer. About a dozen people volunteer here at the bake shop on Cherokee. We have volunteers that work with our marketing and our supplies, and we have the volunteers from each church that come and pick up the bread and sell the bread to their congregation.” Matthew Doyle, who began volunteering for Bridge Bread after introducing the program to his church, credits the advancement of the program to the generous donors who have helped supply Bridge Bread with the equipment necessary to meet its goals and expand. “From the community we have been blessed with many financial gifts and donations of most of the equipment needed to establish the bakery,” explained Doyle. “This came from individuals, local and national corporations, family trusts and foundations. Without
this help we wouldn’t be where we are today and growing.” Doyle, who also serves as Bridge Bread’s volunteer distribution manager See HOMELESSNESS page 2
Over the Fence
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Rambling about gambling
Movie: “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens”
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