A Toast to the Toastmasters

There is no debate, Theron Hall, cherishes the Toastmasters Club at the Oregon State Penitentiary

The President of the Capital Toastmasters Club tells his story…

Theron Hall, President, Capital Toastmasters

“For twenty plus years, the Oregon State Penitentiary has had support from local colleges and universities, and we have been competing in debates with them. Our goal was to greatly improve our debate program and with the support of our prison administration, College Professors, and our members, we have done just that. In 2009, Professors from Willamette University, Linfield College, and Northwest Christian University began volunteering their time to teach a Parliamentary style debate class to our members. At that point, our debate program began to flourish. In addition to our monthly meetings, cognitive classes, and speech contests, we now hold three debates a year with local colleges and universities and one debate tournament a year.
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One Heart Transplant Done, What’s Next?

Enrichment Club Donation Recipient Receives Heart Transplant, Club Plans for Future Donations

A rare circumstance occurs when adults in custody (AIC) can so positively affect a community. The Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution’s Enrichment Club donation to the Children Oregon Transplant Association was one such rarity – an opportunity to raise funds for a local Pendleton student who required a life-saving heart transplant. High school student Miranda Case was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Now, after multiple heart surgeries and as a high school student with aspirations for college, she needed a complete heart transplant.

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Expression of Gratitude

The Snake River Correctional Institution’s (SRCI) Resource Team recently participated in a very special dinner with Peer Mentor and Resource Team member, Galvin Lomboy who expressed how the Peer Mentorship has changed his life as an adult in custody (AIC). The dinner was made possible by the SRCI Correctional Rehabilitation team.

During the special event, AIC Lomboy articulated how he could not stop thinking about all the opportunities to better himself, and how he would dial in on the focus of his goals after incarceration and his desire to help others. In short, he expressed his goals to continue the humanitarian path after he has finished his sentence. He talked about his gratitude for all the support, advice, and guidance of the Resource Team. He continued to name each member and how much he has learned from each person in different ways.

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Mission 22 Veteran Suicide Awareness Challenge

By Lt. Shelby Brown and PIO Stephanie Lane

From Left to Right: Blake Sitton, Lt. Shelby Brown, Joshua Gibson, Chase Bedford, David Savelieff, and Charles Lake

Mission 22 published a challenge on social media asking for support through a fundraiser for their foundation. Their foundation’s focus is to provide various personalized resources to help Veterans and their families to thrive. Lt. Shelby Brown’s best friend, a veteran of the war in Iraq, is now a representative of the foundation and works at the branch in Bend. Lt. Brown is pursuing an opportunity to become an ambassador for the foundation.

Through the foundation’s Facebook page, there was a promotion for a fitness challenge to help bring awareness to the struggles of Veterans and their families and raise money for their foundation. The challenge was to have supporters donate money or challenge themselves to complete 2,200 push-ups to show their support of veterans lost or struggling, and the families affected by either, including the struggle to reacclimate to the home environment after being on duty for so long. Lt. Brown knew right away, she wanted to participate in this challenge, to show support for her best friend.

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