One thing that grabbed my heart from the very beginning was the work of Chattanooga Endeavors.
Last July I began writing to three prisoners who call Chattanooga home. It appears to make a significant difference in recidivismand I enjoy writing cards, and can do it from anywhere.
In November, Jim and I met with their staff. It was so educational for us. This is not an area we are very familiar with. Besides the training and support they offer when prisoners are released, they try to start their supportive relationship while in prison. Many prisoners have no visits or mail for their entire stay in prison!
What I was surprised to learn is that thirty prisoners had signed up to receive letters and were still on their waiting list!
I couldn't stop thinking about that. Heading into the holidays and no mail? I contacted Chattanooga Endeavors. "Give me that list!" I said, and wrote to all of them over Christmas. I told them, "I know only about 12 people in Chattanooga, but I'm going to help you find more volunteers!"
Home School Networks, Christian College Students...Senior Adults! I was not short for ideas of target groups who might be willing to take it on.
But I knew NONE of these!
Seniors, "the greatest generation," know the art of letter writing! So I started with them. On Tuesday, January 7th, I started researching Senior Centers in Chattanooga and felt a bit daunted. There are a lot of Seniors groups here. Where should I begin? Ugh.
“Lord, I don’t know where to start!" I prayed. "Please show me which one I should approach first.”
The next day I went to the Post Office with Jack, my Singaporean terrier. In the back seat of my car was a bag of non-perishable groceries (leftovers from Christmas with the family). Near the Post Office is a food pantry at The Bethlehem Center in a lower income neighborhood. I sensed a strong inaudible prompt, “Call Gloria the Activities Director there to make sure she’s in. If she is, then go, and stop by and visit her. Offer to pray for her in this new year.”
Twenty-eight year old Gloria and I had never had a real conversation before. Our small group from church had volunteered for two Bethlehem Center community events in 2019. She was in her office that afternoon and seemed quite happy to see me when I came by. She invited me to sit down and I asked her typical coaching questions about how she feels going into a new year.
“What’s exciting?” and then,
“Where are you stuck?”
Of all the things she could have answered, she said to me,
“Well, there is one thing that comes to mind. In our centers, we have Seniorscome together to play BINGO every month. They like coming together, but I sure wish I could come up with something that they could work on that is more meaningful.”
I nearly jumped out of my chair!
"I didn't come here today with an agenda about this, but I have an idea..."
She instantly lit up when I told her my idea of how her seniors could encourage our brothers and sisters in prison. She gave me a date to come and join their next BINGO night and I've aleady been once.
February 27th, The Beth seniors will begin making this the first part of their monthly BINGO nights. I'm supplying preprinted and addressed postcards that will be mailed to prisoners.
There's even more that happened next, but I want to keep this short!
