‘No one wants to hire a felon’: Nashville man helps change lives in unlikely place
“I was like ‘God, when I get outta here, I’m gonna change my life around. I’m not gonna be the same person.’”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - As crowds gather and lines build outside of Broadway bars, visitors to Nashville’s most famous street sway to the music wafting from open windows played by cover bands inside. Live music and the assured good time keep people coming back to the honky tonks. While the bars are full, eventually everyone visits one particular place inside each establishment: the restroom.
“Eventually, we gotta go to the bathroom,” says Alonzo Cheeks, owner of So Fresh So Clean Hospitality Services, a restroom management company that staffs Broadway bars with restroom attendants who keep spaces clean. They also greet guests and provide any necessary items like hygiene products or lotions.
WSMV4 followed Cheeks during a shift at the new Broadway bar Chief’s, named after country artist Eric Church. In addition to Chief’s, he currently staffs attendants in two other downtown bars: Whiskey River and Pushin’ Daisies. A typical shift for Cheeks begins at 3 p.m. and lasts until 2 a.m.
“I pay attention to everybody who walks through that [bathroom] door,” says Cheeks. “So I know how you were 3 hours ago and then I can say ‘I think you don’t need anymore, that’s your last drink.’”
Cheeks calls himself the ‘Man in the Can,’ which refers to a restroom now, but nearly 20 years ago ‘the can’ referred to his stint in prison. Cheeks was incarcerated for four months between 2005 and 2006 for attempting to steal a vehicle.
“I was homeless before and I was kinda like livin’ on the streets under the bridge,” explains Cheeks whose attempted theft was because he wanted a place to sleep for the night. “I made wrong choices! Bad decisions!”
While he was in jail, Cheeks made a promise to live differently.
“I was like ‘God, when I get outta here, I’m gonna change my life around. I’m not gonna be the same person.’”
When he was released from jail Cheeks didn’t own a pair of shoes. The nonprofit Project Return helped give him clothes and shoes while he trained for reentry. They also helped him secure a bank account and driver’s license, while also helping him pay child support.
Through working with the organization, Alonzo started going through addiction recovery and eventually began hosting meetings for other people starting their journey. Recently, Cheeks was the keynote speaker for the nonprofit - showcasing his incredible story of service.
After his release from prison, Cheeks found it difficult to find a job.
“No one wants to hire a felon,” says Cheeks.
He eventually began serving food at a fast-food restaurant in downtown Nashville, making minimum wage. One day, a chance encounter changed everything. A man who owned a bathroom attendant company happened to be in the restaurant and offered Cheeks a job working in restrooms.
“[The man] said to me ‘you have a great personality, you should come work for me!” recalls Alonzo.
Alonzo began working for tips at night as a bathroom attendant along Broadway while dedicating his days to helping others. In the years following his release from prison, he became a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist Supervisor, a Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) trainer and a member of both the TennCare and Bluecare Network Advisory Boards.
More recently, Cheeks has become a Safe Bar trainer, teaching bartenders how to spot signs of impending sexual assault among patrons and how to intervene.
Caring for a person’s mental health has become his life’s work and Cheeks has mentored or counseled hundreds of people dealing with mental illness or addiction. He applies his professional training every night in Broadway restrooms.
“Once you start helping someone, it gets contagious where you wanna try helping everyone,” says Cheeks who tries to make the most of the few-second encounters with people passing through the restroom.
He also made it his mission to help formerly incarcerated people and those dealing with mental illness to have gainful employment. Currently, he has 15 people working for him as independent contractors, not as employees.
“I don’t want people to work for me, so I teach them how to be business owners,” explains Cheeks who sees their personal ownership in their work as the key to rehabilitation.
“This is my purpose,” exclaims Cheeks. “I went through all the things that I went through for a reason so now I can help somebody else.”
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