A bridge to dignified work

PHOTOS BY JACOB WIEGAND | jacobwiegand@archstl.org Bridge Bread employees, from left, Leon Tate, Jackie Brokenbrough and Damon Ackerson bagged cookies March 7 at Bridge Bread’s bake shop on Cherokee Street in St. Louis. Bridge Bread is a nonprofit that provides employment and housing assistance to people who are transitioning away from homelessness.

Catholic parishes support mission of Bridge Bread, which employs people moving out of homelessness

Jennifer Brinker

Submitted on March 21, 2025

Damon Ackerson steadied his hand over a warm pot of melted icing as one by one, he dipped fresh donuts into the vanilla glaze. It was one of his many tasks on a recent morning at the Bridge Bread bakery.

His favorite part of the job: “I love getting the bread in and out of the oven — I love the smell of it,” he said.

Bridge Bread employee Jackie Brokenbrough took cinnamon rolls out of the oven March 7 at Bridge Bread’s bake shop in St. Louis. Bridge Bread is a nonprofit that offers people transitioning away from homelessness a stable income and supportive work environment with job training and additional skills development.

Ackerson is one of six bakers currently employed by Bridge Bread, a nonprofit social enterprise that employs people who are transitioning out of homelessness. The work provides them with a stable income and supportive work environment with job training and additional skills development.

Bridge Bread hired Ackerson more than two years ago in what he described as an opportunity after a life “mishap — and I’ve made the best of it.” His employer helped him find housing and provided some assistance with rent. His job’s proximity to home — he’s about a 15-minute bus ride away — was an added bonus.

Ackerson has risen to the role of professional baker, mentoring newer employees. Most of the time that involves guiding them through the work, but he’s also been known to talk them through personal issues.

“I try to keep the guys heading forward in the right direction,” he said.

Bridge Bread got its start in 2011, when Fred and Sharon Domke and other volunteers began baking bread at The Bridge, a drop-in center for homeless individuals at Centenary United Methodist Church Downtown. Their efforts eventually became what is now known as Bridge Bread, which became an independent nonprofit organization and opened its first retail location in 2015.

The bakery moved into the historic Vandora Theatre building on Cherokee Street in south St. Louis in 2017 and has expanded its mission through consignment bake sales at churches and other organizations and businesses. Bridge Bread items also are for sale at Soulard Farmers Market and Schnucks stores. A lease agreement was signed in March to open a new retail location in the Delmar Loop.

Since its inception, Bridge Bread has hired about 150 men and women, most of whom are referred through social service agencies or individual referrals. Employees are encouraged to have a caseworker outside of Bridge Bread, but they also receive additional support through restorative employment practices.

Bridge Bread employee Leon Tate of St. Louis carried trays of DAY-Nuts to be fried and eventually glazed March 7 at Bridge Bread’s bake shop on Cherokee Street in St. Louis.

Approaches include flexible scheduling to accommodate other needs outside of work, implementing progressive responsibility for work tasks, emphasizing capabilities rather than past challenges and a placing a focus on their dignity in work.

While Bridge Bread isn’t religiously affiliated, Domke said he was surprised to see how well the organization’s values line up with Catholic social teaching, particularly the tenets on life and dignity of the human person and the dignity of work and rights of workers.

“It’s providing them with acceptance,” Domke said. “That is to say that when they start here … their view of how things work is tainted by their (life) experiences. They have to learn to trust us. They have to learn that they have to become hopeful again. And as they become hopeful again, they start improving their work habits.”

Bridge Bread employee Leon Tate placed newly fried and glazed DAY-Nuts in rows March 7 at Bridge Bread’s bake shop on Cherokee Street in St. Louis.

In recent years, Bridge Bread has spoken to business leaders in other industries about adopting their own restorative employment programs, with the hope that it will become part of its long-term legacy.

“That’s going to be Bridge Bread’s impact,” Bridge Bread operations manager Mike Heeley said. “Yes, we could have 10 bakeries. We could do that, but it’s more about someone taking the model and replicating it.”

Parishes support Bridge Bread

One Saturday a month, Jeff Schulenberg drives to Bridge Bread and loads his vehicle with a variety of breads, brownies, cookies, scones and cinnamon rolls. The goods are delivered to Sacred Heart in Valley Park and spread out across three eight-foot tables, where they are sold on consignment after weekend Masses.

Renee Rolwes and her son, Corey Rolwes, parishioners at Sacred Heart in Valley Park, looked for Bridge Bread baked goods to purchase March 15 at Sacred Heart Church in Valley Park. The goods were being sold to benefit Bridge Bread, a nonprofit that provides employment and housing assistance to people who are transitioning away from homelessness.

Every dollar from the sales goes back to Bridge Bread. In the past five-and-a-half years (with a break during the pandemic), Sacred Heart has sold about $60,000 in bread and pastries from the monthly consignment sales. Items that aren’t sold are paid for via donations from churchgoers and are donated to Circle of Concern food pantry in west St. Louis County.

Sacred Heart parishioners were in the midst of a JustFaith course in 2017 when a parishioner saw a Bridge Bread storefront and learned more about the organization’s mission. Several groups from Sacred Heart attended a “Lunch with the Bakers” program, where they met employees and got to ask questions about their work.

“Then we said, why don’t we try selling some of this?” Schulenberg said. Sacred Heart eventually became one of the top sellers among about a dozen Catholic churches in the archdiocese that host Bridge Bread consignment sales.

The parish sales are a tangible way to help feed Bridge Bread’s mission, Schulenberg said. Employees are given an “opportunity to live fully human again and reach their God-given potential,” he said.

Bridge Bread employee Damon Ackerson of St. Louis prepared bread March 7 at Bridge Bread’s bake shop on Cherokee Street in St. Louis.

“It’s a story of resurgence, of resurrection that brings people to being contributing members of society,” he said. “It’s more than a handout, but an opportunity to rediscover a dignity that was never lost — they’ve just forgotten it themselves.”

St. Cletus Parish in St. Charles has been selling Bridge Bread products since 2014 and plans to resume its monthly consignment bake sale in April after a brief hiatus. The parish effort falls under its Peace &Justice Ministry.

Shirley Mergenmeier, who will be handing the baton to a new volunteer parish coordinator next month, said parishioners are generous with their purchases and volunteering to help man the tables. Leftover items are donated to Mount Carmel Senior Living in St. Charles.

“Parishioners continue to show their support and generosity each month,” Mergenmeier wrote in a ministry newsletter. “Whether they donate $200 or 50 cents, it all adds up to a successful outcome for the bakers at Bridge Bread providing them with an income to make a better life for themselves and their families.”

>> Bridge Bread

Website: bridgebread.org

Order online: bridgebread.square.site

Ways to get involved: Programs include Bridge Bread Day (individual sales program), Bridge Bread sales through churches and businesses, purchase bread to donate to organizations serving people in need and various volunteer opportunities.