A Utah restaurant serves more than just a quick bite. Newsline reporter Rachel Smith shares who they help and how they change employee’s lives.
Sticky Bird in Farmington offers more than just a mean plate of chicken. They also teach valuable life skills to those battling addiction.
The restaurant is a department of Red Barn Academy, a therapy community that helps people overcome addiction, develop good habits, and do the “next right thing.”
Six years ago, Brandon Howard teamed up with the Red Barn founder to help make the restaurant concept a reality.
'It started with a loss of life … somebody that couldn't overcome addiction and actually relapsed. They had this feeling that they couldn't overcome their own circumstances,” said Howard.
Sticky Bird helps Red Barn Academy students learn skills to help them as they re-enter the workplace.
'We created Sticky Bird to be a life-skills training center for students of Red Barn Farms Academy to teach them life skills so that as they continue on their path to progression, they had the means to create income and eject themselves back into the world that they wanted to live in.”
In addition to teaching life skills, they’re also bringing awareness to addiction.
'This disease affects everybody in some way, shape, or form, and it's something we should address in the forefront and not be afraid of. It's something we should talk about as much as we talk about cancer and other life-threatening diseases,” said Howard.
Jason Webb is a student at Red Barn Academy and works at Sticky Bird.
'There's no way around it, it's saved my life. I believe that I've helped save other's lives because of what we do,” said Webb.
Webb says he’s also learned the value in helping others, which is why he extended his time at the academy for another year.
'I finally found a place where I can give and the real person who stands inside of me can come out and just help.”
For more on the Sticky Bird story, visitsticky-bird.com.