(mellow bright orchestral music) Baking can have many purposes; it can teach patience, it can create bonds, it can be an art, a science, a way to feed the hungry, and the soul.

At Bridge Bread, it's a second chance, an ingredient for resiliency and hope.

- Our bakers and other people experiencing homelessness often blame themselves whether it was their own fault or not.

But when they walk into our kitchen and they get a sack of flour and a tub of butter and a canister full of sugar, and they make these fabulous sweet rolls and breads and everything else that you can see, and they look at what they've made and they go, "This is really good, people love this.

I made it, I can do something really good."

And they get hope again.

- [Brooke] Fred Domke and his wife, Sharon, founded Bridge Bread in 2011 to provide restorative employment and housing assistance to those without stable and safe housing.

The inspiration for Bridge Bread came after Fred and Sharon started volunteering at a shelter.

- The things that you do for folks that are in a daytime shelter or nighttime shelter programs, you know, you give them gloves and coats and you feed 'em meals, and maybe you give 'em a cot for a shelter, and set 'em up with a nurse.

And they're all wonderful, and they all make it a little bit easier for people to experience homelessness.

But after a while we said, "You know, wouldn't it be cool if we could do something that would make it easier for them to be not homeless?"

(bright lively orchestral music) - [Brooke] Now Bridge Bread is not a religious organization, but their first business model is based on selling their baked goods on consignment at churches, growing to over two dozen churches in the St.

Louis area.

- When we sell at our churches, they're setting up pop-up shops for us, 'cause we're not a bake sale, we're not the Girl Scout selling cookies, right?

This is a job, a full-time job for our bakers, and they can stay as long as they need to, after they're housed, they can stay.

- [Brooke] Mike Heeley is the Director of Bridge Bread, and Jessica Bailey-Wheaton is their Board President, and they explain the key factors that make the mission work.

- People who come off the streets who are homeless, they are thinking about that day and that day only, they're not looking to the future.

So a lot of our work here, and a lot of what Mike does, is helping them try to look to the future, and how do we do that, which is through our housing incentive program.

- [Brooke] Bridge Bread doesn't provide housing directly, but helps Bakers secure it through financial assistance that they receive through their fundraising efforts.

The program covers moving costs, deposits, and partial rent for up to six months, plus, ongoing rent support as long as they're employed.

And staying employed is only possible through their restorative employment model.

- There is a freedom and there are a set of survival rules that you learn when you're unhoused.

So, getting someone in to relearn how to be told what to do, or asked what to do, and sometimes we don't ask, sometimes we tell, and sometimes the bread tells you.

With our restorative employment model, we really try to understand that, nurture that.

And instead of just having, for example, an attendance policy that's, you know, three times when you're out, we're looking at the causes of why they're late.

(intriguing orchestral music) - [Brooke] There are other incentives and benchmarks bakers can work toward that earn them more money or other perks like free dental care.

- One of the first things that people give up when they don't have money is dental care.

We have a dentist, guy's name is Aaron Cregger, I can give him a little shout out, he has donated close to $200,000 worth of dental services to our bakers.

You like these teeth?

I paid for mine, but I got 'em from Dr.

Cregger.

- [Brooke] Bakers can stay employed for however long they want or need to.

Some choose to use their skills or resumes elsewhere, but through follow ups, Bridge Bread determines their success rate is around 75%, meaning, two-thirds of their bakers continue to stay housed.

And recently, they've updated their mission to take it even further with economic mobility, which refers to improving financial class or status, in other words, growing from surviving paycheck to paycheck to more middle class thriving.

One of their ways to do that is with a soon to be new bakery location in the loop, Teddy Key will be the manager.

- You know, I think that is the hope aspect of what we do here is, you know, people will find themselves in a hard place and they don't know how to get out of it.

And not only do we have the ability to help people get out of a pinch, but also we are committed to helping people develop their long-term plans.

- And you put some love in it.

- [Brooke] It's also worth mentioning that the bread is good.

Over the years, they've added many more menu items like cinnamon rolls, cookies, gooey butter cake.

And it's not just the hope baked in that makes it taste so good, when the Chase Park Plaza wanted to change up their dinner rolls, Bridge Bread found a solution.

- We make them using a very special formula, using a very special ingredient that we get from AB Mauri, and that partnership has been really spectacular for us.

That special ingredient is natural plant enzymes, but it makes the dough softer, it makes it taste sweeter without sugar, it makes it last longer.

But once we had that bread, I go, "Well, you know, we made cinnamon rolls with bread before, let's try making cinnamon rolls with this dough."

We did.

Every person we had 'em taste the cinnamon rolls said "That's awesome," so we call those Awesome Rolls.

- [Brooke] Their products are in grocery stores on consignment at the Soulard Farmers Market, which makes a sale every 70 seconds, in other words, the proof is in the pudding.

- Well, they say, "No, sir, don't trust a skinny baker," but (chuckles) I'm a buff baker, so... - [Brooke] Ant has been a baker for several months now and has even recruited his friend, Mickey, to work at Bridge Bread.

- He talked about this place, and I was like, I was really interested, and he also talked about all the benefits of working here.

They're very flexible, they're very lenient, they're really patient with you.

- Well, this is an opportunity for you to, you know, find purpose without judgment.

There's a lot what goes along with homelessness, or a fall.

A person gets discouraged and don't wanna get back up and wonders what other people think of them, because of those handouts.

But this is not that.

Most of the time, you get discouraged because all you feel like is people only give you handouts.

And since I've been here, this is the first time I've felt like somebody gave me a hand-up.

♪ And I, I pray ♪ That this works ♪ Amen on behalf of the last and the least ♪ ♪ On behalf of the anxious, depressed, and unseen ♪ ♪ Amen for the workers, the hungry, the houseless ♪ ♪ Amen for the lonely and recently spouseless ♪ ♪ Amen for the queers and their closeted peers ♪ ♪ Amen for the bullied who hold in their tears ♪ ♪ Amen for the mothers of little Black sons ♪ ♪ Amen