Steve Brewster brings empathy, passion for service to role at HumanKind Ministries

“Leadership,” the late broadcasting executive Donald McGannon once said, “is action, not position.”  McGannon’s observation illustrates a universal truth: Anyone who has the experience, empathy, commitment, and plan of action can make a positive difference in the world.  Steve Brewster, a Chicago native who became active with the Explosonic Rockers Street Jazz Theatrical Troupe in Maywood, Illinois during the early 1980s, has dedicated his life to serving others.

After many years of working in youth programs and coaching youth sports, Steve moved in March 2021 to Wichita, Kansas, where he and his partner, Kenda Chairs, founded Madd Skilz Airbrush & Photography, LLC.  In addition to developing creative airbrushed designs on t-shirts and shoes, Steve found himself working to create memorial shirts for grieving relatives who lost loved ones to acts of violence in and around Wichita.  The regular exposure to survivors of those killed by violence prompted Steve to think about how he could make a greater difference in the world, and to help people address difficult circumstances in their lives.

While Brewster continues to work on creating airbrushed designs, he decided a few months ago to channel his energy into a new role—serving Wichita’s homeless population.  As a part-time staff member at HumanKind Ministries in Wichita, Brewster has taken on a variety of roles within the shelter, from maintenance tasks to building security.  Most rewarding, though, is the chance to work with the shelter’s clients to make them feel validated and welcomed as individuals.  Brewster has genuine empathy for those he serves.  As young adult, he experienced homelessness in Chicago’s suburbs.  “I slept in the alleys, I slept in abandoned buildings,” Brewster said. 

He credits his early work with the Explosonic Rockers’ founder, former Maywood Police Social Worker Ray Moffitt, with giving him the skills to form connections with others and to resolve conflict through his role as Moffitt’s assistant in a Village of Maywood summer program.  “Ray didn’t judge me, didn’t judge my street ties, he gave me the opportunity.  He let me take the lead on some things in the Village of Maywood,” Brewster said.  Brewster discovered that he had the ability to help people resolve disputes in a peaceful, productive fashion.

Moffitt, who founded the Explosonic Rockers as a route for youths to disavow gangs and drugs and instead channel their energies toward competitive break dancing, has described Brewster as his “right-hand man” during the Rockers’ performances at locations across Chicago and the Midwest.  The Rockers later evolved into the MWAH! (Messages Which Are Hopeful!) Performing Arts Troupe.

Brewster’s organizational and interpersonal skills—honed through his work in Maywood and with the Rockers—served him well in his later work with the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club of Odessa, Texas.  Brewster even saved at least one life during his journey of service to others.  At one point in his career, while working in hotel maintenance, he gave a hotel guest the inspiration and sense of hope necessary to dissuade the guest from dying by suicide. 

In his work at HumanKind Ministries, Brewster estimates that he has interacted with about 150 people since mid-November.  Brewster strives to make a solid connection from the start, and to help people tackle the problems that have occurred in their lives. 

“When there’s a fire so to speak, I tend to run toward the fire, not away.You can’t put out all fires the same way.Knowing that, I try to help within whichever tools I can to help people help themselves.For me personally, it’s therapeutic, and helping someone else means more than anything else,” Brewster said.