“I’m spending this year in Memphis as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, learning how better to help people who have been incarcerated. My degree is in Business Administration, and eventually I want to open transitional housing in my hometown for people coming out of the prison system to get readjusted to society and the community. They need help to break destructive cycles so that they won’t be incarcerated again. I’ve worked with people battling substance abuse problems, and I’ve done prison ministry, but this year as an intern with HopeWorks is giving me more experience with people who have been (or who are still) in the prison system. There's a verse in the Bible (Matthew 25:36) that says: 'I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' People who are coming out of incarceration need help. They need options. They're still people, and they still have worth. As Bryan Stevenson has said, ‘Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.’"
Johnny Jefferson is an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer and an intern at HopeWorks.
From the HopeWorks website: Providing hope and jobs in Memphis for more than 25 years.
Hopeworks is located at 1930 Union Avenue / (901) 272-3700.
From the HopeWorks website: Providing hope and jobs in Memphis for more than 25 years.
Hopeworks is located at 1930 Union Avenue / (901) 272-3700.
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