Pearson continued to work in restaurant kitchens all those years, some of them with John. But at some point, (John) McMannus fell down, got back up again, went to school and started working in recovery programs. Seeing the flaws and the things he would do differently, McMannus used his knowledge and tenacity to change the way recovery services are delivered. It was the fine-tuning of that vision (that included good food) that inspired McMannus to reach out to Pearson. “I came over and took a look at this kitchen. It looked great, huge and the job just promised me a lot of freedom; getting off the line and stuff like that. I wasn't fully aware of what was happening here at first. But as soon as I came to work here, it kind of dawned on me what was going on with what John’s vision was for the place.”

“I was ready for the change but I had never run a kitchen and that definitely presented some challenges. So yeah, I was I was kind of floundering a little bit - until till I hired my wife,” he laughs. “She (Jessica) came on to help me manage because she's always been a manager. And I've always been a cook. So together, we figured it out.”

When asked to describe the vision, Pearson says, “Basically to give people in recovery, struggling with alcohol and drug addiction, really good food. John just turned me loose on basically whatever I wanted to do, which meant a lot of fresh ingredients, scratch made sauces, homemade spices, just as healthy as we could get it - within our budget.”

“So even though John has passed away, Jessica and I have taken it upon ourselves to make sure that this legacy continues. We train and teach our employees in the kitchen the way we want things done, not to cut corners, to make sure that we have a good product to give the clients because it really does make a difference. It makes them feel good. And that's where it’s really his vision as part of the healing process. Good food makes you feel good. So yeah, we keep that going and it's been working really great.”
Pearson hires a lot of program graduates to work in the kitchen as a pathway to independence and to be part of the team that delivers so much more than nutritious meals to WRS clients. We've lost some of them

. . . just relapsing or quitting or what have you. But you know, some of them are just doing really well. And they're making it happen. They're going to their retreats and their meetings and their groups. They're all about it. It's inspiring to see that it can work if you're willing to put in the time.”

Pearson has had a personal connection to Substance Use Disorder from a young age. “I grew up in an alcoholic family. And so I spent my whole childhood and young adult life around addicts and alcoholics and stuff like that. It wasn't a normal thing to see people get help in my family, none of them really did. A lot of them died because of it. So growing up, I didn't really have that connection to oh, this can be remedied or this can get better. It just wasn't a real thing. And I had my own struggles with alcohol and drug addiction as a young person. I just kind of tapered out of it in my own way without having to go to a facility, probably should have at one point. When I came here, I realized that there was this whole network of people that really work hard and try to make this happen and stick with it for years and years. It fosters hope because you can see that help is available for people and that they just really have to work hard for it. It's not easy.”
 

Actually, both Jesse and Jessica Pearson were doing this work for years prior to coming to Waterfront. Before Jesse was 21, they got custody of his younger siblings. “My mom and my stepdad were really, really bad alcoholics, to the point of the kids suffering,” Pearson remembers when he talks about leaving home at 17. “Without me there, it got a lot worse because I was the oldest and I was the one that kind of looked out for them. But, you know, I just I had to get out. A couple years later, one of my sisters and my brother came to live in our house.” They fought through the courts for a long time to eventually get legal guardianship. “My other sister went to live with Jessica's mom who lives next door.” Jessica’s mom was a foster parent for 25 years.  “So basically it was like a compound where kids that were being abused or neglected could feel safe. From there, we raised them, and now they're incredible adult human beings. Yeah, and we also had our own son at the time who was already three or four when I met Jessica, so we had a lot of kids in a small space but it was great. You know, it worked.”

And it’s still working. That love and sense of family is how the WRS kitchen is run. It’s not without challenges but together, they do an incredible job of making it work. “One of the day to day challenges is the cost of food, trying to maintain the integrity of what we want this kitchen to be while costs climb to astronomical heights. Right now we're working with Food for People, going out to the bread store, getting our bread a lot cheaper . . . that’s really helped. Anytime we can cut down food costs to make sure we can still keep this the way we want it - because we do come under scrutiny from time to time, we keep our eyes open. We're constantly going to different stores, whoever's got the deals or whatever.”

But they do so much more. Every holiday, even the sometimes overlooked holidays, are celebrated with special food and festive decorations from the kitchen to bring joy to WRS residents. “Before Jessica came on board, I couldn't have ever even thought about having the time to do that,” Pearson admits.  “She really fostered that whole program because every holiday . . .  we just had a Chinese New Year last Friday, you know, we did a bunch of Chinese food in the fun to-go boxes with chopsticks and the clients loved it. Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, we did a Mardi Gras themed day for food. We had muffulettas and red beans and rice. They really appreciate the extra steps and care we put into our food and celebrating the holidays. And it's not just Christmas and Thanksgiving. It's Cinco de Mayo and . .  . today's Valentine's Day and we're working on a bunch of gift baskets for all the clients, you know, then there's St. Patrick's Day and . . .  like no stone goes unturned. And the clients love it and really appreciate it.

The Pearsons are a rare and wonderful example of a collaboration that works like a well-oiled machine - personally and professionally. “We’re very lucky in that we work together, we live together, we do everything together, and we seemingly are okay with it. I mean, so far, so good,” he laughs.