The Journey Daybook, Inc.

November was such a busy, rich, and engaged month for our non-profit that I haven’t had a moment until now to make some important posts. So . . . here is a belated update –

Four of our volunteers started off the month with another meaningful JDB Adventure to the FWRC. Unfortunately, without a camera, there is no visual record of this visit; however, we had remarkably strong fellowship with 12 of “our inmates,” including time with Misti, a member of Group 1. This opportunity was a thrill for us and the group since we hadn’t seen Misti for several months. At 4 PM when we had finished making and reviewing our journey daybook pages, we carried out 8 of the inmates’ journey daybooks to display at the Marion County Cultural Alliance presentation that happened for us on November 11.

The MCA event was a great educational and publicity opportunity for the Journey Daybook, principally around the social aspect of our work with at the Florida Women’s Reception Center. This beautiful evening (a wine and cheese party and fundraiser for the Marion County Arts Alliance) was arranged Nancy Moskowitz and Jessica McClune, who are both active members of both organizations. Nancy is also a JDB alum. Many journey daybooks were exhibited but the most popular ones were the books produced by the prison inmates. Guests poured over their hand-made books during the social time. The more formal presentation was a question and answer session that was moderated by Jessica with contributions by me (Peggy Herrick), JDB founder, Nancy Moskowitz, Judge Jim McCune, the husband of Jessica, and the vocal audience that consisted of many JDB alums. After hearing the professional and personal observations of Jim and other members of the audience, we were all SO gratified and thankful for the impact that our project offers to incarcerated women. And, we learned a lot. Our gratitude was especially expressed to Mickey Singer of the Dharma Foundation and to Satchel’s Pizza in Gainesville, who have provided the funding that make this work at the FWRC possible for us.

Finally, also in November, we held an introductory retreat at Camp Weed in the middle of the month. At the close of this beautiful time for instruction and making journey daybook pages, 4 new journey daybook alums were added to our ranks: Janet and Thelma from Gainesville and Edie and Millie from Cedar Key. I have included a few photos here that show some of our two-day activities. One of these photos shows Mary enjoying some valuable “retreat time” in the warm sun. Please make sure to check out the Journey Daybook Pages page to see some of the wonderful new pages that were produced by new as well as “older alums.”

Peggys Watercolor Demonstrati

Contemplation

Our final Review