"Recovery At Work"
Kevin Lynch
Sunday, September 26th 2004

Good morning. When I mentioned this talk to one of my employees last week she asked me "What kind of a church is Saint Joan of Arc, anyway?"

Now there's a loaded question.

The most succinct thing I could think of was "It's a big church, well, no, a big gymnasium, full of recovering Catholics who get it."

Which of course, if you're NOT a recovering Catholic who gets it, is a very difficult concept to get.

I'm so honored that I get to talk about my work community with my spiritual community

For today's special reading I chose the 12 Values of Rebuild Resources, Inc.; a title that might make you ask 1) Is that something like the 12 steps of AA and 2) What kind of a company would have a set of values like that?

So by way of getting us all on the same page let me give you a brief history and snapshot of Rebuild Resources, the organization I'm privileged to serve.

Rebuild is a non-profit 501(C)3 "social enterprise". Our mission is to help addicts and alcoholics become sober, self-sufficient, and of service to society by providing them with meaningful transitional employment in business enterprises we own and operate.

We work with people in halfway houses and treatment centers...

... give them jobs in our businesses...

... help them get back on their feet, develop a work history and reference...

... and most importantly help rebuild their belief that they can be responsible, productive and valuable to an employer and to society.

... Then we work closely with them to find a new job and make a space for the next person in the program.

• They are the safe, secure, sober, supportive, but non-enabling environment in which our students recover.
• And at the same time, they are the economic engine which keeps us alive, funding nearly 80% of our operating budget, and allowing us to operate without a dime of government funding.

.... In another month or two, we'll graduate our 800th student-employee.

... 68% stay sober and self-sufficient for the long run.

... Otherwise, most would become human fodder for the obscenely profitable prison-industrial complex in this country, at a lifetime social cost of half a million dollars apiece.

Credit for this model goes to a true visionary by the name of Fred Myers, who founded Rebuild in 1984 and retired in 2002.

How this wonderful job found me is a story full of serendipity. The coolest part is that I was offered the job on March 6, 2003 - the ninth anniversary of my own sobriety.

Tom and George suggested that I connect my remarks with Scriptures. Given my rather checkered religious history (pre-SJA), I'm definitely not the best guy to be researching and quoting Scripture.

Ah, but luckily there's Google .... when I put in Bible and Work it came up with 559 separate references. When I looked them over, I noticed some very interesting things.

God was a prodigious worker - this whole wonderful world only took six days. No wonder on the seventh she had to rest.

Christ apparently envisioned a full employment economy. As we watch the candidates fight over the economy, let's keep in mind Jesus' words in Matthew: "'the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.'"

Throughout the scriptures, work brings great rewards. Genesis tells the soap opera story of Jacob, who falls in love with Rachel, and offers her father seven years of free labor for her hand. The years pass like days, at the end of which Dad tricks Jacob by bringing his other daughter, Leah, to the wedding bed under cover of darkness. When his trick is discovered, he extracts another 7 years of work, gladly served, from Jacob, who is finally and well rewarded with Rachel, and they live happily ever after.

For those of us blessed with so much, it's tempting to believe the reward for work well done is more money, power and prestige or maybe even romance. But let me tell you some of the rewards I've witnessed at Rebuild:

• I've watched Destiny dance for joy when the court finally granted her visitation of her beautiful daughter because of her continued sobriety.
• I've watched Bobby weep in gratitude when he won back his drivers license, making it possible to visit his son in Nebraska.
• I've watched Aaron grin like a cheshire cat when he earned the dough to get a set of false teeth.

Rebuild is true blue too. We have a manufacturing operation that does contract assembly for other companies. We have a heavy machinery shop that builds a line of tractors. We have a machine shop that cuts industrial metal. And then we have a plant that prints and embroiders shirts, caps and other garments.

Isn't it peculiar that Rebuild is led by someone who can't even hang a picture straight?

There are days I feel quite jealous of our student employees.

At the end of day Myron - formerly a prolific manufacturer of crystal methedrine - can look at a big red tractor and say "I made that".

Macy can look at 200 beautifully embroidered shirts and say "I printed those".

Midge can look at 1000 pieces of precisely measured steel bar and say "I cut all that."

Whereas for me, a good day is one where I can look back and hope that I made more good decisions than bad ones, that I helped a manager become more effective, that I represented us well, that I preserved our mission and values.

I often long for the more tangible, visible results our students produce.

In the world and in our country today, there is a widening gap between the Haves and the HaveNots -- and a common and growing misperception among the Haves that the HaveNots have not because they are lazy.

Admonitions such as this one from the Book of Proverbs don't help: "The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work."

I can honestly say that I haven't met a lazy person yet in my time at Rebuild.

What I have witnessed is the abject failure of a perverse system which enriches huge corporations to the tune of $38 billion a year to incarcerate people for drug-related crimes, and spends less and less on human services, treatment, education and training to make legal employment a viable option.

Tragically, we build more prisons to warehouse young urban black men than schools to liberate them.

I was 19 years old, just starting on a 20 year journey of addiction and alcoholism, when I was stopped by the Eden Prairie police and found to be in possession of marijuana. I was scolded by the sergeant and sent on my way, back to my private college education that led to a good job that led to other good jobs and a life of upper middle class comfort.

Can you imagine what would happen to me today if I weren't the son of straight, white, educated, employed, affluent, suburban parents?

No, I don't believe people are lazy at all. In fact I believe we are hardwired to WANT to be of value.

Just ask Clifton, the fellow who cleans the bathrooms and greets me with a big Thank You as he sweeps the parking lot at Rebuild every morning.

Which is why today's gospel story of the vineyard owner with the labor issues is so profound.

Undoubtedly, in a purely economic sense he overpaid the last or underpaid the first, and today he would surely have been subject to union rules, government regulations or the wrath of Wall Street analysts ...

... but I believe that the householder had a profound sense that there is no gift greater than the ability to give a man a job, and he merely wanted to share that gift with as many as possible.

Knowing all this, it is an incredible honor for me to lead Rebuild.

As for my personal challenges, well, I note there are some really bad bosses in the bible. How many of us have worked for someone like the king of Egypt, who said to Moses and Aaron "why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!"

I want so much for us Rebuild to succeed. It's not that easy.

We are a non-profit with a service mission, but our businesses compete head on with profit-driven companies who ultimately view their labor forces as "units of production". Our upside down business model takes the least desirable units of production, helps them become economically desirable and when they do so, encourages them to leave - and calls that a success.

It's really, really hard to keep this whole thing clicking together. We frequently find ourselves in survival mode. And of course, in direct contradiction to all I've learned in my recovery about letting go and letting God, those are the times I push even harder.

Way too often, I'm afraid, I resemble Moses' boss.

This is definitely the hardest job I've ever held. In one way or another, I'm pretty much always working - even today.

In fact ...... I wouldn't be doing my job if I stood in front of 1200 people and didn't take the opportunity to tell you that we need your help. How so?

80% of our budget is earned right in our businesses. So, not surprisingly, the very best way to help us is by becoming a customer. If we can earn your business, more people can earn their recovery - it's as simple as that.

If you're involved in a manufacturing business, we can help you become more lean and efficient.

If you're not a manufacturer ... just about every business, club or organization needs custom printed apparel or promotional items. We'll do a beautiful job for you in our screenprinting and embroidery plant.

If you employ people, consider hiring a dedicated, loyal Rebuild graduate. They're great employees.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I failed to remind you that the 20% of our budget that isn't earned in our businesses comes from the generosity of individuals and organizations who support us philanthropically. Enough said.

At Saint Joan, we are welcomed wherever we're at on our journey. As I reflect on my journey, on the journey of those beautiful human beings who come in and out of the doors of Rebuild, and on the scripture's messages about work, I'm left with three conclusions:

1. Work is a responsibility. And as such, it can and should be taught.
2. Work - because it is a fundamental condition of survival - is a right. As the owner of the vineyard intuitively understood, we are called upon as a civil society to break down the barriers to work.
3. And finally, work is a gift - the gift that allows one to find oneself. As a fellow named Larry told me: "I used to think of myself as big dumb black man. Now, I think of myself as a big black man."

Thank you, and have a great week at work.