Friendship, work offer golden new start

A year ago, Larry Brown, owner-operator of three metro area McDonald's restaurants, needed workers who could commit to stay a spell. Michael Thompson, finishing his fifth stint in rehab, needed an employer willing to take a chance on him. And Bob Younghans, an insurance executive from Wayzata, had brotherhood and wisdom to share.

A fourth man, Jim Hale, founder of Mentor Corps, was helping to launch a program that would bring them together -- if they were willing to take a leap of faith.

Last month, Thompson and two other men graduated from Golden Opportunities, a nine-month program that offered them a job, a home and a chance at getting it right.

Four others are moving through the pipeline, living together and working at Brown's restaurants in Brooklyn Park and New Brighton. Brown says they've been model employees -- no relapses, no thefts, no mishaps. Thompson is moving through management training at Brown's Brooklyn Park restaurant. In him, Younghans says he's found a brother.

Still, the idea to hire a group of addicts wasn't an easy sell. McDonald's corporate management specifically discourages hiring addicts.

"My heart just poured out, but my business acumen said, 'You can't do that,'" said Brown, who lives in Brooklyn Park.

In the end, with a cautious blessing from corporate and after much prayer, Brown's charitable instinct won out.

A guiding path

Golden Opps is a partnership among McDonald's, the Salvation Army, Cargill and Mentor Corps. It's modeled after Hale's program, which pairs folks coming out of homelessness, addiction and incarceration with people of faith who can support and counsel them. Hale said he was inspired when he mentored a man finishing a sentence at Lino Lakes prison.

"I started to learn more about what is going to happen when this young man walks out of this door," Hale recalled. "This man was going to fail if he couldn't have a mentor guiding him through all the minefields."

The concept at the heart of Golden Opps comes from Romans 8 and 12, biblical texts that contain the ideas of interdependence and collaboration with God and with other faithful people who can help each other's transformation.

Brown and Hale were brought together by Curt Reynolds, who is a manager at Cargill, a McDonald's supplier and a Golden Opps supporter.

Hale said he knows that the program's religious exclusivity will be controversial. He urged people of other faiths to see their own religious leaders.

'Christ is at work in our lives'

Each man said his Christian faith led him to take that leap, to help, or be helped, and faith is the bond that holds them together still.

Thompson recalled learning that faith could help when he began to feel the helplessness and self-pity that had led to relapse in the past. In a booth at Brown's Brooklyn Park restaurant, Thompson, 53, lifted gold-rimmed glasses to wipe the tears inspired by the memory.

"[Jesus] will teach you about patience beyond your own understanding," he said. "He tells you, you don't have to lean on your own understanding."

"Without the mentor, when you have difficulties, especially feeling lonely or feeling pity for yourself, or you get into financial difficulties and you don't know who to talk to because you haven't built that trust and take those things upon yourself," Thompson said. "He's that person who stands there and gives you confidence, encouragement and really good advice."

Younghans admits he had his own doubts at the start.

"Here's me, this west suburban guy, living this nice, neat, suburban life," he recalled. "Why am I being led in that direction? ... My life and Michael's life are very, very different, but what really forms that bond and the love and trust for one another, is the faith that Christ is at work in our lives."

Thompson received more good news last week. As he thought he'd have the added stress of moving out, he was asked to take the post of house manager at the place where he lives with other men in recovery.

"Now has come a time that I need to be a mentor to the new men that are coming in the house," he said.

Younghans also encouraged folks to step up.

"You've got to trust and go, and if you're really called to help and serve other people, which we all are, don't wait until you're ready," he said. "I don't think the Lord is necessarily looking for people who are ready. He's looking for people who are willing, and if you're willing he'll equip you."