Lifers
The members of the Woodmen Ark Valley Campus work hard to love their community well despite their circumstances.
Written by Chris Webb
When the Ark Valley Lifer's Group talks about breaking the negative stereotypes that plague incarcerated people their entire lives, they mean it. And when the moment arrived for them to put their money where their mouth was, they responded in grand fashion by raising nearly $5,000 for the elementary schools closest to their facility-money that would prove to be desperately needed.
The Ark Valley Correctional Facility (AVCF) Lifer's Group is just that - a group of men serving life sentences who meet regularly to offer support for each other while generating ideas on how to change the current prison model into one that improves both the community at large as well as its incarcerated population. The group was created thirteen years ago and has gone through many incarnations since, ultimately developing into the current team led by Group President and Woodmen Ark Valley Campus member, Bernard Jones.
Jones and another Woodmen Valley brother, John Huggins, were inspired to try and find a way to offer financial assistance to Southeastern Colorado elementary schools, institutions that have historically struggled with funding for even the most basic of school supplies and equipment due to the region's poverty. "I wanted to reach out from the penitentiary to people in need and put a smile on kids' faces," said Huggins.
Huggins submitted a proposal for a yard-wide fundraiser, a proposal that the AVCF Programs Major approved immediately. As soon as the Warden was made aware of the idea, he, too, signed off, giving the Lifer's Group permission to put up flyers and hand out miscellaneous withdrawal forms to all of the housing units. Within a month, they had enough money to buy supplies for four different schools.
"I grew up in public schools," said Jones, "and the first day of school was a big deal. I didn't have the school supplies the other kids had, and this made me feel like I was less than those other kids. It was traumatic. I remembered how kids' faces lit up when they got supplies and I wanted to pay that forward."
But it wasn't just the incarcerated residents at AVCF who helped pay it forward. Several staff members donated time and money to the cause. Sgt. Cortez was there from the very beginning, helping with the making of flyers and the collection of funds. Ms. Apadoca and Ms. Medina from Mental Health were also involved in the process, providing the space for the Lifer's Group to hold their weekly meetings and operate the fundraiser. Woodmen Valley Chapel, through Pastor Howie Close, got involved as well, and offered their support with a donation of over $400.
Once all of the funds were collected, the school supplies were bought online-items like pencils, notebooks, backpacks, and tissues were ordered by the hundreds and then boxed up personally by the Lifer's Group with the help of AVCF staff. On Monday, August 22, those same AVCF staff members hand-delivered the supplies to each school, presenting them on behalf of all of the incarcerated residents at AVCF.
Woodmen Ark Valley Resident Pastor, Bruce Mingo, was there to help box up the supplies. "It was so much fun," he said. "I felt such an incredible sense of gratitude for being able to come together and serve someone who desperately needs it."
What's next for the Lifer's Group? Bernard Jones has a few ideas: "We want to start a tutoring program that helps ensure that every resident who leaves this facility has at least a GED, if not more schooling. We believe this will help break the cycle of recidivism."
If he and the rest of the AVCF Lifers approach that project with the same intensity and devotion they showed with the school supply fundraiser, they will no doubt knock that one out of the park as well.
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