Family Room

MEET THE PEOPLE IN OUR PAGES

There’s nothing better than seeing a little girl or boy get a new coat at Christmas,” says Sean Cummings (Breath of Life, page 44). He and his wife, Cathy, presided over the kitchen at Oklahoma City’s annual Red Andrews Dinner last Christmas. The organization collects coat and toy donations during the year to make the holiday brighter for people in need. Sean also leads informal knife skills classes for ex-inmates. “Restaurants seem to be short on help all the time, so they’re more than willing to take people who might not be hired at other places,” he says. He gets referrals from other former inmates. Sean estimates that almost half of them have landed good jobs. “Someday I would like to start something like Homeboy Bakery in California, an impressive operation that employs ex-convicts and ex-gang members,” Sean says.