This one is a bit longer, but I think you will be encouraged.
We recently graduated our first class of men and women through our “Hope for Returning Citizens” program. Tip Top Poultry in Marietta Georgia has a heart for men and women who have been incarcerated.
Following Jesus’ call to love the “least of these” they created this one of a kind pilot program. I am so grateful that I was chosen to be part of their team, as I have been praying for something just like this for a long time.
When men and women get out of prison the deck is stacked against them. Now there is hope...
While in GDOC Transition Centers participants get a full-time job at Tip Top, life skills courses, free housing if needed, drug and alcohol support, our Power of Peace training, a welcoming church if they so desire, and a mentor to help them along the way.
They also receive an opportunity for a scholarship to Chattahoochee Tech to learn a trade upon successful completion of the six-month program.
Wanna know the best part? Most of our mentors are law-enforcement, lawyers, and probation and parole officers; we even have a former district attorney. In today’s divided world, that’s a story worth spreading.
I’m so grateful to Tip Top President Brad Respess, and Phil Stroud (the heart and soul of this program) for allowing me to be a part of this exciting new initiative.
If it was your mother or father, sister or brother, or son or daughter, I’m sure you would want something like this for them when they begin they’re difficult re-entry into society.
I wish you could’ve seen the graduation, these brothers and sisters truly shined. And our mentors experienced the powerful change that happens to your heart when you serve the least of these.
Don’t listen to the haters, get involved in solutions. God bless Tip Top, and our beautiful “Returning Citizens.”