Eric Cato

The Roots Emancipators program is a beautiful thing. It gives you a head start to get on the path where you can do the right thing. I don’t think there’s another program out there to really give guys coming home from prison the opportunity like Roots. Roots reaches out and welcomes them when everybody else doesn’t want to be bothered. If a person really wants to get back in life and get situated, it gives them the opportunity.

I’m not just speaking on it; I lived it. I came home from prison, and I got cancer and got introduced to Roots after the cancer treatment when I had to find a primary care doctor. Roots helped me transition from disability back into the workforce. Then they helped me with housing. 

If you give people support and the love, it kind of rekindles that fire. A homeless person can come and get a meal or a shower and get that feeling that somebody cares. So that will kind of spark them, motivate them.

Even outside of Roots I deal with some cats that came out of prison and want to give back to the community. So, on certain days when I’m not working, we all get together. We might put in $100, $200, make sandwiches, get little juices, and go out to homeless camps and pass out food and blankets or whatever else we can do. It’s our personal way of giving back. Even though we paid our time to society for the crime, we never paid back to the community, so that’s our way of giving back.

Growing up here in Oakland, I took a lot from the community. Even though I did my prison time and paid my dues to society, that’s paying the system, not society. Now I feel I’m paying my dues to society by giving back with Roots. I appreciate Roots. I’m here with them, as long as they’ll have me.