A shared piano and a shared past, showcasing two generations of Black brilliance, compose a story of resilience, trust, and transformation.
In a quiet chapel tucked behind red-cushioned pews and a communion table draped in remembrance, two lives converged at a piano- one seasoned and one just beginning. Raday “RB”, once unhoused and uncertain, found his way to the piano keys through a flyer at the Providence Foundation’s Bayview Hills Garden Youth Services Program. Returning day after day to the community room, RB let music become his anchor in a world that had long felt unstable.
Gare “Oz” Osby, a concert pianist whose journey once mirrored RB’s, had also passed through a Providence Foundations shelter’s doors years earlier. His story marked by homelessness, resilience, and artistic triumph has led him not only to reclaiming himself, but also back to Providence, where he now serves as a Board Member on the Providence Foundation’s Board of Directors. When Oz saw RB at the piano, he did not just see talent, he saw a reflection of his own past, a reminder of what is possible when dignity is restored, and creativity is nurtured.
Their connection was immediate. Oz did not instruct RB in the traditional sense. He listened. He affirmed. He offered quiet guidance, not just in technique, but in presence. Two generations of Black brilliance, one rediscovering his voice, the other helping him shape it.
RB’s story, as shared on ProvidenceSF.org, is one of transformation: from shelters to high school graduation, from academic struggle to college enrollment, from silence to song. His journey crescendoed at the NAACP Gala, where he wore his first tuxedo and walked into a ballroom not as a guest, but as a symbol of possibility.
In this moment, Oz stood nearby, proud, but quiet. He knew the weight of that moment. He had lived it. And now, he was witnessing it again, but this time through RB.
This intersection of past and present, of hardship and harmony, is the heartbeat of Providence. It is not just about shelter. It is about sanctuary. It is not just about survival. It is about symphony. RB and Oz remind us that healing is not linear, it is layered, communal, and often found in the spaces between musical notes.
Their duet continues. And, every time RB plays, he carries not just his own story, but Oz’s legacy, and the promise that Providence holds for all who walk through our doors!