Utah County Non-profit ‘Building Beginnings’ Giving Employees Second Chances

UTAH COUNTY, Utah – Applying for a job can be a little stressful. Will the hiring manager like you? Are you qualified enough? Now imagine, trying to find a job when most doors slam on you the second they read your application. One non-profit in Utah County is working to make the unemployable more employable.

For the construction crew working on a house in Springville Monday, the steps to remodeling a bathroom were pretty simple.

“We tore out all the tile here,” said Justin Butts. “We’re doing new flooring, new cabinets and a new vanity.”

The steps to sobriety are a little more complicated.

“My need to take care of my drug addiction came first,” Butts said. “I ended up in places that I never thought I would go in my life.”

Justin Butts is starting his life over with the help of a steady job.

“We have an answer and it’s a simple solution,” Ryan Hymas, co-founder of ‘Building Beginnings’ said. “We take people in, give them affordable housing and job with us and they can work with other people in (addiction recovery).”

The non-profit is funded by the other companies the two co-founders own, and by donations.

“We did this because somebody did this for us,” Hymas said.

Hymas and the other co-founder know what it’s like to fight addiction. They know what it’s like to be denied jobs because of a felony conviction. They know what it’s like to want a second chance.

“On Sunday, I had five years (of sobriety),” Hymas said with a smile. “Every person in the company is in recovery.”

The work isn’t about making money.

“We’re not supposed to be making millions of dollars,” Hymas said. “We’re helping people with a solution that works.”

For Justin, his new life is about to get even more joyous.

“I have a baby on the way in December, and so I’m super excited about that,” he said.

His future is finally taking shape.

“(This group) changed my life,” he said. “Actually, that’s an understatement. It didn’t give me my old life back. I didn’t want that life back. It gave me a life worth living.”

All of the people working with “Building Beginnings” are drug tested twice a week. They don’t just do construction work. They are trained in welding, design and landscaping as well.

The founders tell us everyone in the program wants to become more self- sufficient. ‘Building Beginnings’ is just in need of more projects for them to work on.

To learn more, go to Bbrecovery.net.