Capuchin bakery project: Beyond feeding poor to 'saving generations'

Published: 2007-08-30

DETROIT (CNS) -- After 23 years in food service, from training as a sous-chef at Detroit's now-abandoned Book-Cadillac Hotel to working in prison kitchens, Edward Collins felt he had something to offer after his fourth release from prison on robbery and theft charges -- if he could find someone willing to take a chance. "I was ready to give back. I'd been taking for so long," said Collins, who had spent 33 of his 58 years incarcerated. He knew nothing about the work of the Capuchins when he went to the soup kitchen seeking a bus pass so he could look for a job. He had no idea that during the Great Depression the poor of Detroit knocked on the doors of the monastery seeking bread. These days, the Capuchins aren't only handing out bread. They are helping some of the most unemployable by teaching them to bake bread and other pastries. Or, as Collins puts it, "Instead of just feeding us, they are saving generations." Collins' experience in the food industry "really changed the whole tone for us," said Capuchin Father Ray Stadmeyer. It also changed the focus of an employment project and became the foundation for a year-old program called ROPE, which stands for Reaching Our Potential Everyday.

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