Gangs won’t stop Saskatoon man from helping inner-city kids

Brendan Wagner

CKOM

A man who works with inner-city kids in Saskatoon is frustrated but not deterred by persistent attacks from gang members.
Rick Langlais runs Hands On Street Ministries on 20th Street West. The building's been broken into several times over the years. Just last week, Langlais had his own house burglarized. He's even been threatened, shot at, and stabbed in 20 years of working in the city's core.
“That in itself isn't so heartbreaking, it's just the accumulation of so many different things,” he told News Talk Radio.
But none of it will stop him from reaching out to keep kids from going down the wrong path.
“I love what we're doing when we see the children grow and being able to feed and clothe them and just interact in their lives. And to have the privilege of being part of their lives, it's probably the biggest privilege of my life,” Langlais said.
“It's just being able to give these children unconditional love, and mainly teach them manners, morals, scruples, and the value of their self-worth. To build their confidence, their self-esteem, to let them know that this world is theirs. They can tackle it. They can become whatever they want.”
Langlais accepts that the gang backlash comes with the territory. But he's not wavering from his mission to be a positive influence on inner-city kids.
“If you only have 50 bad choices, you will make a bad choice. But if you have 51 choices and one of them is good, hopefully we can influence them to the point where they will take that good choice.”
Langlais believes “God is bigger than the bogeyman,” so he doesn't have any choice but to keep going forward.