Good Morning!

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Welcome to The Coffee Shop, just for you early risers on Monday mornings.
This is an Open Thread forum, so if you have an off-topic opinion burning
a hole in your brainpan, feel free to add a comment.

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There is no ‘them’ and ‘us.’
There is only us.

– Father Greg Boyle

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From the Homeboy Industries website:

“Homeboy Industries began . . . In 1988, members of the Dolores Mission Church and Father Greg found a few caring business owners willing to hire former gang members and “Jobs For A Future” was created. Seeking a way out of gang life, 70 young people started work.

In 1992, Hollywood producer Ray Stark donated enough money to turn an abandoned warehouse into a bakery and the first social enterprise, Homeboy Bakery, was born. Two months later, Homeboy Tortilleria opened in Downtown Los Angeles. Hands that once pointed guns now pressed and shaped dough every morning.

But there were growing pains. In 1994, the ceiling leaked, the oven broke . . . Father Greg found new partners; a worker from the Southern California Gas Company repaired the oven free of charge and USC Medical Center stepped up and said they would buy whatever the bakery could turn out . . . in 1999 . . . the bakery burned down, but despite these obstacles, Homeboy continued to grow and expand. More social enterprise businesses and new, free social programs were added and by 2001, Homeboy Industries was an independent non-profit. In 2007, Homeboy moved into its current Los Angeles headquarters.

Thousands of young people have since walked through the doors of Homeboy Industries looking for a second chance, and finding community, sanctuary, and family. Gang affiliations are left outside as people work together, side by side, learning the mutual respect that comes from shared tasks and challenges . . .

Homeboy Industries is recognized as the largest and most successful gang intervention and re-entry program in the world, and has become a national model.”

If you only have time this morning to watch one of these videos, watch the second one, about Mario.

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And one of the best statements on why no wall will ever work:

“Abject poverty, political instability, torture, and other abuses push thousands across our border. There is not a deterrent imaginable that equals the conditions that force their migration.” 

— Greg Boyle

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