10/23 Concord: Trinity Episcopal Church Sunday Forum -- Concord Prison Outreach

Trinity Episcopal Church in Concord invites you to its Sunday morning Adult Forum, Trinity's adult education program, which meets most weeks at 9 AM to hear to hear speakers sharing their ideas and experiences on important aspects of connecting faith with everyday life. Trinity's monthly Forum schedule is available here.

On Sunday, October 23 at 9 AM, the discussion centers on Trinity's connection to Concord Prison Outreach, a long-held participation in CPO programs including holiday gift bags for inmates, job skills, life skills, education, family reunification and more. Parishioner Win Wilbur, active in Concord Prison Outreach for decades, will be one of the speakers, along with Trinity's Senior Warden Jay Luby, George Dallas, Cheryl Mandler and others.

Founded in the 1980s by Jeane Bell and Di Clymer, Concord Prison Outreach is a coalition of faith communities and individuals committed to helping people in prison build better lives for themselves and their families. The outreach program recruits, trains, and supports volunteers to go behind the walls and teach invaluable skills to people in prison. CPO offers over 30 programs ranging from computer skills to gardening, parenting skills to culinary training, basic finances to anger management.

Jay Luby, part of CPO's entrepreneurship program, helps inmates create a business plan during the 12-week session which explores basic needed services, self confidence, and how to pitch their plans to others. George Dallas is active in the "Read to me, Daddy" program which helps fathers select a book, or poem for their child, practice reading it aloud, and then records the fathers reading. The recording and book are then sent to the child, fostering connection between children and their absent parent.

There are many ways to participate by volunteering inside and outside of Concord Prison; doing so can change an inmate's life AND your own!

Trinity's Adult Forum meets in the Parish Hall at 81 Elm Street in Concord; all in the community are welcomed at no charge. Trinity's invited Forum speakers come from many walks of life and have addressed all manner of topics -- serious, mysterious, personal and world-focused. Among our recent topics are pilgrimage, faith lost and found, histories and Biblical persons, death, dying and grieving, parenting, stewardship, education, and much more.

All are welcome. This is a FREE event. Childcare begins in Trinity's nursery at 9:45 AM for the 10 AM service; Trinity's buildings are fully accessible. For further information on this and other programs at Trinity, please call our Parish Office, 978/369-3715, or visit us online, www.trinityconcord.org.