Three outstanding Madison community members — La Toya Greer of the Free Campaign, James Hawk of Tellurian and Peggy West Schroder of EXPO-WISDOM — will be honored at the MOSES Virtual Transformation Celebration on Saturday, Nov. 20.
MOSES is a non-partisan interfaith organization that works to promote social justice with a focus on ending mass incarceration.
“When we started this celebration four years ago, and it’s been our main focus ever since, it was to offer the community some education on what it’s like for people who have gone to jail or prison and how it’s disrupted their lives and some of the barriers they face when they come back home … and coming back home means they have to have a home, which many do not,” Rachel Kincade, president of Madison Organizing in Strength, Equality, and Solidarity (MOSES), tells Madison365.
“All of these things are really stacked against you and you have to really find a lot of strength in yourself to get through those barriers and come to a place where you feel like you are settled and supposed to be,” she adds.
Saturday’s MOSES Virtual Transformation Celebration, which will be held over Zoom, will be the organization’s one big fundraiser this year and will help them with their mission and their programming which includes education, training, advocacy and action.
“We downplay the money aspect of this event and we are really focused on the honorees,” Kincade says. “We provide prime rib dinners for the awardees and their guests and a bouquet of flowers and a beautiful glass-blown award. It’s gorgeous with MOSES colors in it. They will get them delivered the night of the Gala.
“We’re really focused on making this a very special night because nobody we’ve ever given an award to has been recognized before,” she adds.
The event is an opportunity to honor some people who have done great work with re-entry including La Toya Greer of the Free Campaign, James Hawk of Tellurian and Peggy West Schroder of EXPO-WISDOM
“They are three wonderful, beautiful people doing great things,” Kincade says. “We interview all of the winners on video and we edit that for the event into a 6 or 7-minute segment.”
Rev. Jerry Hancock of First Congregational Church will do the opening prayer. Once again, Carmella Glenn, program coordinator for the Just Bakery program, an initiative of JustDane, will be the emcee of the event. Glenn will interview the honorees.
You can become a MOSES member or donate to MOSES, even if you can’t make Saturday’s Virtual Transformation Celebration event.
“One thing that we want to do with this event is let people who are getting out of prison know that they can live their lives big,” Kincade says.
The MOSES Virtual Transformation Celebration will be held Saturday, Nov. 21, 6:30 p.m. The cost to register is $50, and every dollar goes to support the work of MOSES, thanks to our event sponsors. For more information, click here.
