December Letter

Dear True Freedom Partner,

While 2021 started off with True Freedom still handcuffed by COVID lockdowns and restrictions and the devasting loss of our co-founder Gary Koly, Prospera Reentry (formerly known as True Freedom Enterprises) continued to operate its work release program through partnerships with local halfway houses, including the Community Service Alliance and Harbor Light. By God’s grace, as the first quarter of the year came to an end, we received word that the prison system planned on slowly reopening to outside groups, with True Freedom being the first organization invited to return. In April we resumed in-person ministry at Grafton Reintegration Center. Then, over the next three months, we made our weekly programming available to seven additional prisons. This included worship services, Bible Studies, character development and biblical manhood classes, and mentorship. By the end of October, we had conducted over 300 services, classes, and programs with over 4,000 inmates attending.

Also, in April Prospera Reentry relaunched our computer classes and screen-printing apprenticeship programs inside the prison system, and by the end of summer, we had over 130 prisoners actively enrolled in these offerings. Then on May 1, 2021, we relaunched our work release program with prisoners from Grafton Reintegration Center returning to work at reLink Medical in Twinsburg, Ohio.

By the beginning of June, we were permitted to return to the Juvenile Detention Center for in-person ministry, and during our first four months back inside, our chaplains, Rev. Dr. J.D. Smith, Mark Stradiot, and the newest chaplain, Lintashia Marshall, have conducted over 40 classes and services and over 400 1-on-1 counseling sessions.

In July we had the privilege of honoring the life and legacy of Gary Koly. Over 400 hundred people filled the sanctuary of Cuyahoga Valley Church to overflowing, while several hundred more viewed the live-streamed memorial service online. Laughter resounded and tears flowed as we said goodbye to the man who pioneered modern prison ministry in Ohio and whose 40 years of work laid the foundation for everything True Freedom is doing today.

August brought a remarkable opportunity as True Freedom gained permission to host a first-ever summer festival at Grafton Correctional Institution, complete with hamburgers, hotdogs, pop, and chips for the entire 1400 inmate population. The morning started with an open-air worship service in the middle of the penitentiary yard, followed by a softball tournament that included two teams from within the prison and four outside teams, with two comprised completely of Amish men from Middlefield. As the day came to a close, one inmate serving a life sentence said to one of our staff members: “Words cannot describe what today meant to me. For the first time in 40 years, you let me go home for a few hours.”

Our homeless outreach, which continued to provide much needed hot food and warm clothing throughout the pandemic, returned to in-person operations at 2100 Lakeside – Ohio’s largest homeless men’s shelter – in August. Through the incredible work of Sandy Pocisk and David Sudnick, we are back to serving nearly 400 meals weekly and have distributed well over 18,000 garments during the past twelve months. Then in September we were privileged to co-sponsor an Evangelistic Crusade for displaced men and women living in halfway houses, homeless shelters, and rehab centers. Prospera’s fleet of vans transported nearly 200 individuals from all around Cleveland to hear the compelling testimony of David Hill, a former Hollywood actor and Mixed Martial Arts pioneer and champion whose life was transformed by Jesus Christ.

As this year ends, both True Freedom and Prospera Reentry are poised to experience explosive growth in 2022. The Lord has laid many amazing opportunities before us. For example, we are partnering with Grace Church in Middleburg Heights to plant a satellite campus of their church inside the walls of Lorain Correctional. At Richland Correctional we have been asked by the administration to run our own faith-based housing unit within the prison. Prospera has been asked to expand its work release program to the Northeast Reintegration Center (the women’s prison in Cleveland), Richland Correctional in Mansfield, and the Juvenile Prison on Green Road in Cleveland, in the first quarter of 2022.

We are excited about the remarkable vision the Lord has given us for 2022, and we invite you to invest your energy, prayers, and financial support with True Freedom and Prospera. Your partnership in the Gospel enables us to expand the work of the Kingdom of God throughout Northeast Ohio.

In Christ

Michael Swiger

Executive Director

True Freedom Ministries and Prospera Reentry