Operation Following Hope

Meet Me at the Prison Gate

Imagine you have been inside a jail cell for a period of time. Maybe just a week and most likely at least a month.

And then you are released. You are processed through the facility and the gate opens. You have notthing.

And behold, there at the gate are the Hope Messengers with a backpack of things gathered just for you.

Not only that, there is a group of people welcoming you back to the community with smiles, handshakes, hugs, and love.

That is what this program is about. You can be a part of this. You can be a Messenger of Hope.

Locations For Donation Boxes Click here for Map

Monetary donations

Venmo @bonnie-winfield

* To Become a Messenger click here *

Listen to Women's Stories Here

There is a Buddhist Koan about a person who is walking along in the mountains and falls down a cliff. She grabs a hold of some tree roots and holds on in fear of death. I told this story to the women in a group I facilitate in the local county jail. The story ends with the person seeing a delicious strawberry and letting go of the roots to eat the strawberry.

This story was about my difficult decision. As I explained to the women in my group, the tree roots represented my professional life at the time. It seemed that I was clinging to it and afraid to let go. The strawberry was, is the women, the work in the jail.

I chose the women and retired from my professional academic career. The women were thrilled especially to know that they are my strawberry. I wonder how many of them have truly been the strawberry in someone’s life?

A colleague listened intently to my story and suggested that the group is now “Bonnie’s Strawberry Patch.”