2025 News

A word from the director

When you read the news or listen to the many voices interpreting what’s happening in the world, what sense do you have? Is it a sense of hope? While hope may be hard to hold for some, I was recently introduced to two kinds of hope. Prison Ministries Program Director Kenzie was leading a large group of college students and inmates inside Hutchinson Correctional Facility (Central unit). She noted that there is anticipatory hope – which is rooted in the future believing that somehow, someday things will get better. There is also participatory hope – which looks to the future but is rooted in the present. It sees what is broken and says ‘here is where we begin.’ OVM has been in the business of participatory hope for over 50 years! Here are some recent examples of OVM continuing to make a difference in our local communities, spreading hope:

• Students meeting inmates and being changed through it – and the inmates also being changed through these interactions
  
• Adults learning how to behave differently toward their loved ones through BIP curriculum and experience
  
• Students who weren’t able to attend school regularly until OVM stepped in to help identify barriers to attendance and work collaboratively toward solutions leading to a belief that regular attendance is possible
  
• Volunteers visiting an M-2 match in the Hutchinson prison or faithfully writing to their pen pal, offering friendship and reminding the one in prison that they matter
  

​Such stories of hope don’t just happen. These require faithful volunteers who offer their time and they require faithful and generous donors who support the work financially. These stories require many people to see the need, roll up their sleeves, and participate in embodying hope for another. May this offer you a sense of hope this season. Please remember OVM as you consider where to give – your $100 gift (or any amount) enables the gift of hope to spread.

Donate online

​Todd Lehman, Executive Director

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Grateful & Hopeful Staff

​Q: For what 2025 OVM moment are you thankful?
Kathy: Our CJP staff, along with a faithful volunteer, were trained in Student Support Circles. This empowers us to go deeper with families and their truant kids. Student Support Circles is a strengths-based approach of opening up dialogue about what issues families are willing to work at with support from others.
Todd: Being in the prison with students from Sterling College and a group of eight inmates. In that conversation there was one moment where a student shared about her previously-held beliefs being changed by her interactions with these guys; the guys who heard her later reflected that they felt a sense of purpose in that moment.
Julia: To be able to work in spaces with people who live out their own values and that ours happen to align in the Venn diagram of life. I am grateful for the grace and computation of my coworkers as life does its crazy dance,  and that we are all able to support one another.
Kenzie: For college students involved with Prison Ministries this year both through M-2 and through college courses visiting the prison for circle conversations about restorative justice. I have witnessed the joy of human connection in these conversations and seen the surprise at finding common ground and even wisdom behind the walls.
Emily: I got to match several new volunteers with pen pals inside prisons. It means so much to the guys inside and often teaches a lot to the volunteers as well.

Q: What are you looking forward to next year?
Kenzie: Continuing to learn about all parts of the system, especially how things work in prison and what supports and challenges there are for those released. Continuing to see the genuine connections and animated conversations between M-2 matches.
Emily: I hope more parents and students take advantage of our truancy intervention strategies. The individualized service my colleagues offer is a gift to the community!
Todd: Being successfully funded so that staff can be paid properly for their expertise and excellent work. We have amazing staff who are knowledgeable and who approach their work each day with incredible care for those among whom they work.
Kathy: Writing grants that allow us to do the restorative justice work we’re called to do!

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Garden for Good

In July, ten M-2 volunteers joined about twenty Reno County Master Gardeners for the annual Garden for Good garden tour: visiting the garden at Hutchinson Correctional Facility. 
Most of the two acres are dedicated to growing produce to give to local non-profits, or to sell to inmates and staff. In addition to giving away more than 20,000 lbs of produce annually, the guys in the program also donate the money they earn ($15,000 last year). The 120 inmates in the program, after receiving training from the Master Gardeners, share all of the planning, organization, and labor to operate the garden.
Talking to the incarcerated gardeners reminded [Kenzie] yet again of one of the fundamental truths underlying OVM’s work: 

The people we lock behind bars are worth knowing. They may have caused real harm, but they are also humans who have stories, passion, and gifts." 

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