For Others

Layton Blaylock, director of the film Community First! the Movie, forwarded this letter from a prison inmate to Alan Graham, CEO of Mobile Loaves and Fishes and the founder of Community First! Village in Austin, TX:

Mr. Graham,

Recently I watched a documentary on my local PBS station about your community Mobile Loaves & Fishes and your mission. In fact, I’m still watching it now, I just couldn’t wait to write this letter. I think I needed a break from crying. I guess my heart was empty and tired. I was wondering what my purpose on this earth or whether I would get a chance to truly make a difference. In the last hours I have cried so many times and I can say my heart has softened and it is full.

I am certain you hear from many who were touched by your story or the movie but I don’t know if you will hear from someone who is incarcerated, in Virginia. I won’t spend time telling my story here but I will say after almost seven years in prison and potentially many more you have given me a gift, the movie, the testimonies have inspired me in a tangible way that I have struggled to find.

I work a job here as the chaplain’s assistant working to serve the various religious communities here. I only make 45 cents per hour and work 30 hours a week. I wanted to send your group some money. I just feel led to do it, I know it is not much but I hope it can help, maybe? Maybe it will give testimony to you about how far Mobile Loaves & Fishes can go.

I pray that we can find some way to treat others and our community at large the way you all are in Austin. Thank you, this guy will be forever changed by Community First and I may never even visit. I will tell everyone I know about what you are doing.”

"He signed the letter and included a $25 money order. At 45 cents an hour working 30 hours a week, that represents almost two weeks of wages. I (we) made this film to help introduce Community First! Village to the world and receiving such a heartfelt, handwritten letter from a prison inmate is another indicator that we are reaching a broad spectrum of our society."  Layton

Here's another POV from a woman experiencing a living situation similar to mine:

City of Eugene and Vehicle Parking

With all the poverty, crime and dysfunction in this country, why would anyone gripe about spending money to help solve these problems, who cares what they're calling it?  President Biden knows his reach is exceeding his grasp, but the fact that any politician, regardless the party, resents charging the uber-uber-wealthy a smidgen of their wealth to help their constituents?

Well, what's the Government for; and who, exactly, are they representing?  WE THE PEOPLE?