LYNN — After being in jail for three years and struggling with alcohol and drug use as a young man, Chad Quintana, came back to Lynn looking to find out how he was going to spend the rest of his life. He soon found the guidance and what he would come to describe as a second family at Straight Ahead Ministries.
“Without them who knows what would have happened to me,” he said. “They helped keep me on a straight path.”
Straight Ahead Ministries helps juvenile offenders transform their lives through religion and by providing guidance in finding jobs and other opportunities.
Since then Quintana has been sober for three years and is about to open a clothing store on Boston street. He has gone from receiving help to giving it back, as many members and staff from the ministry did, Saturday at the All for One fest on the Lynn Commons around the Frederick Douglass Bandstand.
The bandstand featured popular music from DJ Julio Sanabia and performances from singers Caleb McCoy and Denyse Renee.
Renee, who grew up in Lynn, was excited to be able to perform at the event.
“I know what it’s like to not have a lot,” she said. “I always love to give back to the city.”
Hip Hop artist McCoy decided to leave the bandstand during his performance, coming down to his audience and encouraging them to sing along and dance during his religiously themed songs.
“God and the Bible can sometimes be abstract. I like to make the message personal,” he said.
One spectator who joined in the singing and dancing with Caleb was Danyelle Williams, from Mobilize for Mission, another ministry.
“Its inspiring,” she said while describing Caleb’s performance. “I love his words, I love the way he speaks.”
The event also involved fun for kids. Some played flag football and other lawn games with Straight Ahead Ministry’s Jason Ludwig, while others had their faces painted to resemble characters like pirates and superheroes.
Ludwig, who had spent time in prison in the past, is now the ministry’s Director of Institutional Outreach.
“It is more than just helping out a few kids,” he said. “We’re helping change families, communities, it’s a ripple effect.”
Ludwig also took time to reflect on the number of booths at the event, each one represented by religious programs whose missions involve helping youth or others who need it.
“One organization can’t do it alone,” he said. “The more resources the better.”
Esther Summersett, the ministry’s Director of Aftercare, helped organize this event as a way to bring the community together.
“Sometimes we mean well but forget our community, when we come together we are able to find love and peace,” she said.
That’s what Saturday’s All for One Fest represented, dozens of a community’s people, many of whom have suffered through pain in in their lives, coming together to inspire hope and help youth through faith according to Summersett.
“Pain is power,” she said to the event’s guests. “I am who I am and I do what I do because of the pain I have suffered.”
Summersett’s words were personified as well in the life of one of the event’s speakers, Brian Castellanos.
Castellanos, a candidate for Lynn School Committee, spoke about his life and journey to get to where he is today.
“My life has been a series of hardships,” he said. “When people asked me how I made it to where I am today, I tell them hard work.”
After the death of his brother, Castellanos found himself homeless at age 17, but with help from the community and organizations like Straight Ahead Ministries he made it to college and got a Master’s degree.
“I’ve been told my whole life I couldn’t,” he said. “They told me I couldn’t. So I did.”
