Moms are unique and special. So are a person’s views on motherhood. Prison Fellowship spoke with several women about being a mom, both in and out of prison.
In 1858, social activist and Sunday school teacher Ann Reeves Jarvis organized “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” to improve unsanitary conditions and high infant mortality rates in her community—seven of Ann’s 13 children died before reaching adulthood. In 1868, Ann created “Mothers’ Friendship Day” to unite women on both sides of the Civil War.
Ann died on the second Sunday of May in 1905, and Ann’s daughter, Anna Maria, later honored her in a “Mother’s Day” ceremony, moving the apostrophe to honor mothers as individuals. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day a national holiday. We now celebrate Mother’s Day the second Sunday each May, honoring mothers with gifts or grateful words—more phone calls are made on Mother’s Day than on any other day of the year.
Several mothers at Prison Fellowship®—staff and volunteers who have experienced the challenges of both parenting and incarceration—share their thoughts on motherhood.
TERESA STANFIELD, senior prison ministry manager at Prison Fellowship
“[A turning point in prison] was surrendering my life to the Lord and looking at my beautiful blessings and saying, ‘God chose me to be their mom.’ I did everything I could so that when I did get out, I would be able to be the mom that the Lord planned for me to be.”
CHANDA ROBINSON, in-prison counselor at Prison Fellowship who, after losing her own daughter, is now “honorary mother” to many of the women she serves
“You’re a mother, regardless of your address. … It is my life’s work to be the best version of myself and someone that [my kids] would be proud to say, ‘That's my mama. Regardless [of] what she’s been through, the crimes and the prison sentences.’”
JOY BLOCK-WRIGHT, Justice Ambassador volunteer with Prison Fellowship
“Jesus Christ brought me through it—the love of the Lord. [My children and I] stayed in church, and we stayed in our Word, and we built our relationship together with the Lord. And that’s what brought us together to where we could be trusting each other, and I could be open and honest with them, and they could with me.”
TAMMY FRANKLIN, director of correctional programs at Prison Fellowship
“Being a mom is not our identity. ... It may be a role that we play, but it’s not our identity. And so when we try in prison to change for our children’s benefit or for our husband’s benefit or for the parole benefits, I think we fall short in that because we are doing it for the wrong reasons.”
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