Prisoners Helps Prisoners!

    This is a very random and happenstance event that occurred over Thanksgiving last November when my son and daughter-in-law, Jared and Emily, visited Emily’s family in Tennessee.

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                                  What a fun surprise!

     Most often we never know how our books affect others. Sometimes we do––through strange and unsuspecting avenues. This is one of those times.

     This is an excerpt from an email from Tom Hallquist that brought surprising and exciting news.

From: Tom Hallquist to John H.
 
Quick question: who is Donna Figurski––any relation to Emily.

I read Donna's book "Prisoner without Bars" around 2020 and I was so impressed that I have asked the Department of Corrections to develop training for returning citizens for home healthcare. I am making another presentation this Monday for the state to pay the salary and expenses for one year. But the returning citizen must write or give a presentation on how the experience changed their life. Probably just a coincidence. But I like the name. 

Tom

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                                        Let me explain.

Who is Tom Hallquist?

     Tom is a lifetime friend of my daughter-in-law’s father, John. Tom is also an adjunct professor at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee, and he is a member of the Tennessee Community Resource Board (TCRB). On the TCRB, Tom works with the Tennessee Department of Correction and the Board of Parole. He works with inmates (he calls them returning citizens), encouraging them to seek a better and more productive life in society upon their release.

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                                     Now the really FUN part!


     Tom uses my book, Prisoners Without Bars: a caregiver’s tale in workshops and lectures as a catalyst and as inspiration for the inmates.



     The uncanny part of this is that I would never have known about this creative and very important service that my book is offering, had Tom Hallquist not been a friend of Emily’s family.



                              Six degrees of separation!

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