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| Back row, L to R: Danielle Sims, Larry James, Connie Hilton, Tac Buchanan, Jim Buffington; Center row, L to R: Deborah Hartman, Beverly Barnes, Eddie Mendoza, Margie Blazier, Dolores Stoughton, Richard Lopez, Val Padley; Seated, L to R: Lucy Segars, John Sage, Belinda Hester, Linda Windham |
This photo of the Bridges To Life staff was taken at our 2016 Vision Luncheon in November. What I see when I look at this photo is far more than a dedicated staff that has grown from 1 person in 1998 to the 16 folks you see here (plus 2 more in our Indiana and Washington regions).
When I look at this photo, I see 33,000 BTL graduates and 2,000 volunteers who collectively donated over 500,000 volunteer hours. I see over 4 million miles driven to and from 115 prisons by staff and volunteers. I see an organization dedicated to God's will that has grown from 41 inmate graduates in 1999 to 5,100 in 2016, and is still growing. I see the saving of many lives and millions of taxpayer dollars. I continually see God's grace and miracles occurring in the midst of our program.
To all of our donors and volunteers, THANK YOU for helping to paint this incredible picture!
John Sage
Founder & CEO
Bridges To Life
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What is at the heart of the BTL experience? Bridges To Life brings the light of God's unconditional love and forgiveness into one of the darkest places in our world: prison. Offenders who participate in a BTL project have the opportunity to experience the kind of transformation that helps them make permanent, positive changes in their lives. A BTL graduate described the experience this way:
Hope in a very dark place.
Love in a place where hurt, anger, shame and humiliation are the rulers.
Kindness where rudeness and ugliness live.
Morality where immorality is stored.
Remembrance where most have been forgotten.
A time of love and understanding to those who have never known such.
The freedom to be who I was intended to be.
After release from prison, the graduate who wrote these words went on to become
a Licensed
Chemical Dependency Counselor, working to help those with mental health and substance abuse issues. Debra Collins Quernheim has also supported BTL as a volunteer since 2013. We consider Debra not only a BTL success story, but one of God's true miracles!
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Amazon has made it possible to give to your charity of choice every time you make a purchase. Go
here
to
sign up for Amazon Smile and support BTL!
With
Kroger's Community Rewards program
, Kroger will donate a percentage of your purchases to BTL every time you use your Kroger Plus card! Learn more
here
.
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