by Alissa Moore, LSPC Re-Entry Coordinator
This year’s Welcome Home Dinner was a beautiful way to end the year, if anyone were to ask my opinion. I saw many of our Family members come home off of what can only be described as inhumanely long sentences. That, in and of itself, is the sole reason for our annual celebration called the Welcome Home Dinner. The Dinner is a huge gift at a pivotal time of the year when many of us struggle to know what to do, where to go, with who, and for some of us, if we should even bother doing anything with anyone.
I was feeling down in the dumps, probably struggling with some form of depression or seasonal affective disorder. The gift I received was immeasurable and really helped me to look at my own life in the correct perspective. What I saw was the look of childlike wonder and hope in the eyes of my peers that were just returning home.
Being blessed to observe this, I started thinking about where the hell had my wonder gone and my hope disappeared to? Had I become jaded and sad because of life circumstances?
The truth is, while it’s sometimes trying as one acclimates back into society and some days are worse than others, I realized what I saw in their eyes was all gas and no brakes! I saw determination, raw grit and perseverance in the eyes of all my recently returned counterparts. Some of these men and women I had known personally, some not at all, but they all had the fight inside that all survivors of long term incarceration have.
I decided that there was no way I was going to be so far removed from that same ingenious woman that survived with a smile. If you know me, I am pretty outspoken and will stop at nothing when I have a goal. Of late, though, I have been quiet and felt removed from the world around me: more as if things were just happening to me, instead of me taking charge and trying to ensure the best possible outcomes for myself and others.
I reflected to myself, what is this madness? I found that I had become a little too chill for my liking, I’d let a lot of goals and dreams fall by the wayside and pushed to the bottom of my priority list.
If I hadn’t been blessed to see all of our people come home and share that carefully created energetic space, I wouldn’t have been able to see my own lapses in judgement and realign my own thoughts and actions.
I would personally like to thank everyone who attended. I hope that we wil see each and every one of you at this dinner in future years. A big shout out to our donors and the administrative team for ensuring that we were able to maintain a steady number of invitees, even with all of the cuts and programs being dissolved around us. I know it’s not easy in this political and financial climate, so a thank you and a heartfelt hug to our team here at LSPC and our community donors for coming together when they would love to see us divided.
If you’ll be getting out in 2026, please don’t hesitate to get in touch so you can join us for the next Welcome Home Dinner.
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