Adapted from an article in Toronto Star, September 18, 2004, by Christian Cotroneo.
Photo by Peter Power/Toronto Star

The coffee isn't ready yet, but there's already a dream or two percolating at River restaurant.
Before the lunch-hour rush, cooks, servers and restaurant staff gather at the bar laughing, talking about tattoos and pondering the future.

"I'd like to work at a casino," muses 22-year old cook Vicky Fulfit. "Oh yeah, to be a chef at a casino ..."
Zeke Owusu says it would be nice to own his own restaurant. For now, his days begin at this Roncesvalles Ave. establishment and end on his friend's couch.

They may be a long way from reaching their dreams, but before arriving here, dreams were a luxury they could ill afford.

This cozy, wedge-shaped restaurant in Toronto's west end culls its staff from the ranks of Toronto's homeless and at-risk youth.

Like Mathew Eubank, who may have been just one risk shy of not being here at all.
"I was going nowhere," says the 22-year old, leaning over the bar, eyes peering out from under a blue bandanna. "I had one child and my girlfriend was pregnant with another. We were going through a rough time. I didn't really have anything in my life."

Somewhere on the way to growing up in his Weston Rd. and Lawrence Ave. neighbourhood he became addicted to alcohol and marijuana. And somewhere in those depths, he sounded the bottom of his life.

"And life said, `Wake up!'" he thunders, slamming his palm into the bar.

He prayed. He spoke to someone at the local community centre. He found River.
The restaurant is owned by All-A-Board Youth Ventures Inc., which offers jobs to at-risk youth — and a chance to build a future.

"While we operate like a regular restaurant," says Tom Freeman, the charity's executive director, "this is by no means a regular restaurant."

Despite having scarce experience in the restaurant industry when they arrive, about 85 per cent of employees stay at least a year before moving on to other jobs.

"This is the finish line in terms of unemployment and being in shelters," he crows.

Work experience, Freeman adds, is just the beginning. New recruits learn to get their moorings in life, starting with regular pay cheques, one-on-one training and counselling.
Now, thanks to new funds from United Way of Greater Toronto, the restaurant is expanding. Extensive renovations and longer hours mean River will be able to double its staff from the current 30 employees later this fall. River is among 13 not-for-profit enterprises supported by the United Way of Greater Toronto, ranging from an art-based business to carpentry. The common thread? Self-sufficiency.

You wouldn't know River's employees were just finding their feet. On a weekday morning, the sign outside offers French toast and espresso with whipped cream. Inside, smiling staff members are awaiting the lunch time-legions.

"I come from unemployable," proclaims Garret Egles.

Betrayed by the stars and rocket ships on his arms, the British Columbia native said his image was his own undoing. No one wanted to hire a tattooed 20-year-old with no restaurant experience.

Eubank, on the other hand, keeps his passions mostly on the inside.

"I don't think about the future," he says. "I just focus on the day-to-day. I have a job. Me and my girlfriend are getting along great. I have a beautiful, healthy baby boy."

He got off alcohol and drugs.

"I got on my feet.