Yonkers bakery gives back, offers 2nd chances to community

YONKERS (WABC) -- Many people start businesses with dreams of achieving success by getting rich, but not one bakery in Yonkers. Their goal is to put the profits back into the community.

Greyston Bakery was started three decades ago by a man who wanted to give those who were hard to employ a chance to forge a new path, and both the bakery and its mission have grown over the years.

Last year, it did had $11.5 million in sales, making it a role model for other businesses.

"When I went to prison, I knew that I definitely needed to make a change or I wasn't going to make it," Sherae Bryan said.

But the quality control specialist and two-year Greyston's veteran is making it now, and she's one of 2,000 people who've worked there since it opened.

"They don't look at your background," she said. "It doesn't matter what you did in your past. It's just like you're starting from this point on."

Dion Drew is in his sixth year at the bakery, and he recently did a TED talk about changing his life by working at the location.

"Before I came, I was anti social...and now I'm doing talks," he said. "Life is definitely sweeter, definitely sweeter. And life is what you make it, but they help you achieve what you want to do in life."

And that's because Greyston is all about giving back. Profits either go back into the bakery or into the foundation, which supports affordable housing, day care and job training for the people of Yonkers.

Recently the company started selling products at Whole Foods, but for the past 24 years, the bulk of the business has been in brownies -- the brownies used by Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.

"It's a demonstration of a broader model with a global company like Ben and Jerry that wants to support social enterprise and work with an organization like Greyston that's helping 75 families right here in Yonkers make a difference," CEO Mike Brady said.

And Bryan is one of the employees who also depends on Greyston for affordable housing.

She now walks to work, to a bakery that's helped buoy her both emotionally and financially.

"I love my job," she said. "I'm happy to be here. I'm lucky to be here. Very fortunate."

Employees go through a nine-month paid apprentice program. Only about 40 percent make it through, and those who do often stay at the bakery for years.