A Big Help & Blessing to Me - By Jimmy Collins

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A Big Help & Blessing to Me - By Jimmy Collins

I was incarcerated for 27 years and 27 days. I became active with True Freedom Ministries when Mike Swiger started a faith-based mentorship program in the Grafton Correctional Institution in 2008. It was a blessing to be part of that program, to see someone like myself, who had gone home and broken through barriers that seemed impossible. This was a big encouragement for guys like me. I am still in contact with the mentor that Mike assigned to me all those years ago.

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Volunteer Opportunities

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Volunteer Opportunities

Come serve the homeless with True Freedom and Cuyahoga Valley Church on Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. We meet in the Frontline parking lot at 1744 Payne Avenue, Cleveland, 44114. Volunteers serve sandwiches, fruit, canned food, and various other items. We also provide dishes and utensils for clients to take with them. Twice a month clothing is distributed. It is also our privilege to pray with anyone interested…

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Clothing Clients

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Clothing Clients

What does a newly released inmate wear to his first job interview? Enter Dave Sudnick, creator and overseer of Dave’s Slack Shack, an integral part of True Freedom’s ministry to the homeless and those reentering society after incarceration. Impeccably organized, Dave’s Slack Shack feels like a formalwear store. Clients can select from dress and casual clothing to suit their needs for employment, court appearances, and everyday use. Dave recently outfitted a homeless man in appropriate attire for attending a family funeral. Later that week he provided dress clothing for the burial of a man who was murdered…

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All Glory to God Always

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All Glory to God Always

At the Lorain Correctional weekly Bible study, I was teaching from the Book of Ephesians and started talking about the ministry of missionary work. I shared that, at the church where I serve as Pastor, we were feeding kids and adults in the neighborhood. I had learned that the children were not eating since schools were out for the summer, so we began feeding families Monday through Friday, for 8 weeks. A man in class said, “Now I remember where I met you…

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Evangelistic Tool for You

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Evangelistic Tool for You

As COVID hit, Chaplain Mark Stradiot began making live Facebook videos twice a week to connect with our clients and partners. True Freedom is now offering short, monthly evangelistic video messages for sharing on Facebook. These messages will be less than 10 minutes each. We encourage you to make them available to friends, especially those you have been witnessing to and praying for…

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Back In!

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Back In!

We are back in! For the first time since the pandemic, True Freedom held a service for inmates on Ohio’s Death Row, housed at Chillicothe Correctional Institution. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, our access to this facility was barred for more than a year. On Tuesday, March 22, Chaplain Mark Stradiot had the privilege of preaching God’s Word to five men on Death Row..

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Ministering at the Juvenile Justice Center - By Chaplain Smith

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Ministering at the Juvenile Justice Center - By Chaplain Smith

I sat in the outer area of House 3 to have private conversation with a young man from Pod A. During this time, twenty boys from Pod B returned from the gym. However, the guard who had been with the boys in the gym did not notify the guard in House 3 that the boys would be returning. When this group of boys saw that someone from Pod A was in the outer area…

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Relaunch at reLink - By Maxine Lowe, Director of Reentry Employment

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Relaunch at reLink - By Maxine Lowe, Director of Reentry Employment

Relaunch at reLink

By Maxine Lowe, Director of Reentry Employment

After shutting down due to COVID, True Freedom Enterprises recently relaunched its pre-release, work release program for ten men, each of whom has nine months or less remaining on his prison sentence. TFE is a non-profit organization dedicated solely to workforce empowerment. This reentry program gives returning citizens a legitimate opportunity to find gainful employment by providing…

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Moments in the Word with Mike Swiger: Episode 24

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Moments in the Word with Mike Swiger: Episode 24

Philippians 3:4–7 Though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

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