The MOSES 7th Annual Transformation Celebration Gala will take place Saturday, Dec. 14, 5:30-9 p.m., at the Brassworks Building of the Goodman Community Center on Madison’s East Side. MOSES, a local non-profit organization that works to promote social justice with a focus on ending mass incarceration, will recognize three formerly incarcerated individuals who have successfully worked through stigma and disparity to transform their lives.
“We’re going to honor people who have turned their lives around and are inspirations to us all,” Rachel Kincade, president of Madison Organizing in Strength, Equality, and Solidarity (MOSES), tells Madison365. “By lifting up their stories, MOSES hopes to inspire other system-involved people to achieve their future dreams. We do criminal justice work, it just seemed right that we’re also honoring people for their successes. What my husband [MOSES organizer James Morgan] was told when he got out of prison was to expect to live his life small, but we want to encourage people to live their lives big.
“For this event, we have several complimentary tickets that we give out to people who have been formally incarcerated and couldn’t otherwise make it without a free ticket,” she continues. “We do that because we want the community to know what’s possible, and we want other people who have been impacted to dream big. We want them to know that if these guys can do it, so can they.”
MOSES, a non-profit interfaith organization that has been around for 11 years, hosts its annual Transformation Celebration Gala every year around this time and it is one of its biggest fundraisers.
At this year’s event, MOSES will honor Kingston Robertson, Jessica Jacobs, and Action Jackson, whom MOSES describes in a press release as “three justice-impacted individuals who have successfully worked to transform their lives.”
Robertson is the brand owner of Holy Godz clothing gear, a designer with a message for young people. Jacobs is the new Dane County community organizer for the FREE movement where she is working to make sure incarcerated women in Wisconsin get treated with dignity and respect. Action Jackson is the owner of a professional landscaping business and the founder of J.Y.C, a workforce development program that provides free training for community members in lawn care and landscaping.
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Carmella Glenn, a longtime community advocate and violence intervention supervisor at the Public Health Madison & Dane County who recently announced her candidacy for alderperson in Madison, will serve as the emcee for the program which will include an introduction to MOSES, three moving videos of the honorees filmed by Dee Star of Star Productions, an awards ceremony, and an opportunity to win raffle prizes.
“Carmella is engaging and personable and a lot of fun,” Kincaide says. “We are excited to have her emcee our event.”
Beginning at 5:30 pm, guests will be treated to heavy hors d’oeuvres and desserts catered by Goodworks Community Catering and TeenWorks.
“Our gratuity goes to the youth culinary program there at Goodman Community Center and the youth participate in serving us that night at the event,” Kincaide says.
“We will have heavy hors d’oeuvres served from 5:30-7 p.m. and there will be mingling amongst the guests. And then at 7 p.m., the program starts,” Kincaide continues. “We have people lined up to talk about MOSES, to give honor to our gathering and then show the videos and pass out the awards.”
Fundraising from the event will help MOSES do many of the things they do year-round with education, training, and advocacy.
“The thing that I love about MOSES and being involved with MOSES for so many years is that it addresses people who are otherwise overlooked and they are doing tremendous things in the community,” Kincaide says. “But what I like about MOSES most is that my personal work and interest is in people in the jail and ensuring that they’re getting adequate care.”
To register for the MOSES 7th Annual Transformation Celebration Gala, go to the Gala page on the MOSES website. The cost of registration is $75 per person or $65 for two or more tickets purchased at the same time. The deadline for registration is Monday, Dec. 2.
