{"id":6703,"date":"2019-03-17T23:42:41","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T04:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/family.pep.org\/cleveland\/?p=6703"},"modified":"2019-03-17T23:42:41","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T04:42:41","slug":"week-2-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/2019\/03\/17\/week-2-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t\n

Week 2<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Week in Review<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday  January 7, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we are, standing in a room full of men. We were once\nstrangers, but now we are in the second phase of PEP as brothers. We start and\nend every class with a prayer for one another. <\/strong>We are learning about life decisions, choices, love and, most of\nall, brotherhood! We are learning how to be servant-leaders and how to hold\nourselves and others accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We started Toastmasters today. This is a class on public\nspeaking, and we are truly blessed to be a part of it. This class is another\nstep toward being positive role models in society. Public speaking in front of\nyour peers can be a very scary thing to do, but with practice, we will\novercome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We made our PEP classroom look like a courtroom for our\nToastmaster\u2019s class. But instead of being judged and sentenced in this courtroom,\nwe are speaking blessings and lifting up one another. Our first speech is\ncalled the \u201cIce Breaker,\u201d a two-minute speech about our personal histories. Come\non, Spring \u201819, we can do this!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albert\nA. (a.k.a. \u201cShania Twain\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday  January 8, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no class today, so we took advantage of that and\ngot some extra studying done for the Basic Business test we are going to have tomorrow.\nWe interacted, socialized, studied, laughed and sometimes cried. We remained\nmindful at all times of PEP\u2019s 10 Driving Values. The most notable among these are\nintegrity, accountability, and servant-leader mentality, interspersed liberally\nwith doses of fun, innovation and excellence. We applied our artistic talents (for\nsome a previously unrealized ability!) to create graphic logos for our business\nbrochures in advance of Fridays\u2019 much-anticipated Think Tank event. At the\nevent, we will have the opportunity to brainstorm with business executives and\nentrepreneurs. We sent and received letters, many to our families who are out\nthere cheering for us as we work toward our May 2019 PEP graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summary, we worked, played and prayed. We hoped and\ndreamed, we planned and schemed. A few of us older PEP participants even found\ntime for a nap. All told, many wondrous and sundry things were done \u2013 another day\nof our sojourn passed, and we each took one more step in the transformative\nprocess of becoming new and better men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\nA. (a.k.a. \u201cLife Alert\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday January 9, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were excited about class today; Brian T. (a.k.a.\n\u201cCruella de Vil\u201d) gave us a lecture on different business ideas. He taught us\nhow to lay the groundwork for a business startup, including risk and gap\nanalysis. We all took notes in anticipation of the test we will have next\nWednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, we went directly into Chapters Three and Four\nin our workbook, which covered business idea generation and initial\nevaluation.  Brian T.\u2019s insights on how\nmany investors assess the viability of an opportunity and how risk is rated in\nthe real world was very revealing.  Many participants\nwere able to walk through this exercise with him.  This gave them an eye-opening perspective on\nhow investors analyze potential ventures. \nWe as a class look forward to the plethora of challenges that lie ahead\nas we prepare for the upcoming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all felt like we were in a college-level atmosphere, as\nmany were raising their hands and answering questions. Some of our classmates\neven posed questions of their own. It\u2019s an amazing feeling to finally use our\ntime in the most beneficial way that will be applied in every area of our lives\nfrom here on out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gunnar\nA. (a.k.a. \u201cRafiki\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday January 10, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being in\nclass today gave us the feeling of being one step closer to home. Harvey M.\nfrom the PEP office in Houston, talked to the class about how PEP helps its\nparticipants re-enter society. PEP will be there for us from the beginning to\nthe end. PEP will pick us up when we are released from prison, feed us our\nfirst meal at a restaurant of our choosing, and drive us to the PEP transitional\nhome. PEP provides it participants with some decent clothes and shoes, as well\nas their first suit. They will provide transportation to the parole office, job\ninterviews, doctors\u2019 appointments and the driver\u2019s license office. It is good\nto know that we have a support system already established for us when we are\nreleased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing\nthat we all will be paired with a \u201clife caddie\u201d (helper) upon our release makes\nthe reintegration process feel a little easier. The first 90 days after being\nreleased are the hardest and most critical. Knowing that a fellow PEP brother\nwill be there to help us brings reassurance that we can and will be\nresponsible, productive members of society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PEP\nhas proven to be an organization that cares and continues to care about us all\n\u2013 this is not just a program on the inside of prison. \u201cIt is a hand up, not a\nhand out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anthony\nB. (a.k.a. \u201cBoomhauer\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday January 11, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emotions\nwere high this morning as we prepared ourselves for the much-anticipated Think\nTank event. We came together as one as we socialized, took pictures and danced\nin expectation of the day\u2019s coming events. When we entered the gym, we were\nsurprised to be greeted by the Executives and our Servant-Leaders! As we entered\nthe room, the energy and intensity were magnified as we accepted their most\ngracious welcome.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmoment we prepared for all week was finally here: the Think Tank event.  For most of us, this one-on-one time with the\nexecutives was the climax of the day. \nMany of us were apprehensive as we unveiled our business ideas with the\nexecutives and wondered if they were worthy of praise\u2014or whether they should be\ndiscarded.  Smiles and laughter soon took\nover as the tension eased and bonds began to form.  The executives offered advice, insight and\nfeedback, and we absorbed it in a matter of minutes.  However, these 10 minutes were very important\nbecause they could potentially change our lives.  Then we rotated to the next executive and\nsoaked up more wisdom.  Two hours later,\nour business plans seemed so different, with each one taking a new shape and\nform.  Before we knew it, the event was\nover.  The moment we prepared for all\nweek was gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then\nwe were blessed to hear both participants and executives alike share their\nexperiences and emotions as they journeyed through the day\u2019s event.  Each person expressed what this program meant\nto them, how it was changing their lives and how inspired they were by each\nother.  We soon found out that some of\nthe executives weren\u2019t all that different from us as they shared their stories\nof overcoming adversity and achieving success. As the day\u2019s event drew\nto a close, we reflected on our experience and the love and support that was\nfreely given to us by our friends and brothers on the outside.  Today was a blessing. Thank you, PEP, for\nmaking this day possible!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seth\nB.  (a.k.a. \u201cGhost Busters Secretary\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expressions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe more sweat in peace, the less blood in war.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                                                                                              \n~Unknown<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This quote continues to prove\nhow proper preparation will pay dividends when the true test arrives.\nContinuing to train ourselves to change our ways of thinking and behaving will\nprevent much loss and suffering in the face of adversity. This will help us\novercome the challenges daily life offers. Obedience is always better than\nsacrifice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam K. (a.k.a. \u201cCupid\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week 2 Week in Review Monday  January 7, 2019 Here we are, standing in a room full of men. We were once strangers, but now we are in the second phase of PEP as brothers. We start and end every class with a prayer for one another. We are learning about life decisions, choices, love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clsp19"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}