Not A Bucket List Moment

Your honor, members of the court, Mr. Do, my name is Bill Bracken and I’m the founder and executive director of Bracken’s Kitchen, a nonprofit hunger relief organization in Garden Grove, California.  

2020 was the start of our second full year at our current location and at the time we were a relatively new and small organization. With 6 employees we had a modest goal of preparing and providing 600,000 meals for our friends and neighbors in need that year. 

I will never forget Friday, March 13 the day that California closed and Covid changed everything.  Equally I will forever remember the panic and hysteria that I saw on the faces of so many people, particularly seniors, worried about how they would survive and where they will get their food from. People suddenly swarmed to us for help, and we quickly realized that we needed to pivot and change.  

And pivot we did. We hired more than 16 unemployed restaurant workers and completely revamped our production systems. At the end of 2020 we had provided almost 2 million meals at a time when it was really needed, and we’ve haven’t slowed down. Since our inception we’ve provided more than 10 million meals for our friends and neighbors in need.

All this at tremendous cost to so many people who willingly gave of their time, talent and treasure to help those in need. So many sacrifices from so many people all in the name of serving and supporting our community. In sharing this I cannot help but think of the immense sacrifice of my own family in support of this work. As I worked to keep everyone safe from covid, getting up at 3 am to go to work, coming home and 3 pm to spend hours on the computer, my family never flinched. But sacrifice they did, everyone did. 

Mr. Do, you may not remember but you came to visit us at the kitchen. You toured our facility, commended our work and seemed genuinely interested in helping us. You and I exchanged emails, and I thought to myself, he’s going to get behind our work. But I never heard any real follow up from you.

As we continued to work through the effects of covid, funding was a constant challenge and our expenses continued to rise with our increased work. I didn’t know how it worked but I watched other non-profits get a lot of support from the board of supervisors. They were in other districts, and I always wondered why we didn’t receive any funding. With our business model we could have provided literally millions of meals with those funds.

Covid changed the supply chain and it’s impact is still felt today. There is more people struggling with poverty and hunger now than I have ever seen including so many seniors. 

When I heard of your indictment, it felt like a sucker punch to the abdomen. I was shocked. As I pondered your visit to our kitchen, our conversations and email exchanges I couldn’t help but wonder, he genuinely seemed interested in supporting us but was it all part of some elaborate scheme. Only you know that.

Mr. Do, it is not my place to judge or condemn you, I leave that to God and the justice system. But I must say that at a time when our country is so divided and there is so little trust in our elected officials you betrayed that trust and added to the divide. As I look at what’s happening in LA right now, I can’t help but wonder how low it will go? How many more elected officials will chose the wrong path before they realize the awesome responsibility that they took when they chose public service. A responsibility to honesty and integrity and the fight for what is right, responsibility to those they chose to serve.

My faith and life experiences has taught me the power that money and power has to corrupt man and I do hope you have remorse and have sought His forgiveness.

I never would have imagined I would be here speaking today and was very hesitant.  But I feel strongly that the truest test of a people, a country is how we treat our weakest, our most vulnerable.  And I chose to speak here today because you failed that test

Regardless of that failure, I hope and pray that you will seek forgiveness, make amends and the money you took is rightfully returned to those here in Orange County who need it most.