I had the privilege and honor to serve as the Marian House Board Chair for the past two years and have been on the Board since 2015. I am proud to have served with such an outstanding group of volunteers to ensure the fulfillment of the Marian House mission.

My time as Board Chair has been fulfilling and I am proud of the progress we have made these past few years. At the beginning of my term, we launched a three-year strategic plan that focuses on three areas: The Power of Our Program, The Power of Progress and Expansion, and The Power of Building Relationships. I am pleased to say that upon completion of two years, we have done an outstanding job in moving our strategic plan goals forward.

I made a few changes while in leadership that you may not know about. I took the opportunity to introduce an informed consent agenda approach for our five board meetings each year, giving us more opportunity to engage in lively discussions around topics related to the Marian House programs and outreach. Adopting this meeting format allowed us to also spend time on Board education in topics such as effectively using social media and other helpful tools to help us be good ambassadors for Marian House.

Our board meetings are packed with content, and don’t leave much time for open conversation. To keep the Board connected and engaged between our meetings, I scheduled “Fireside Chats” on Zoom, giving Board members the opportunity to express concerns, ask questions, and to engage in informal discussions.

I am grateful for the opportunity to lead this great organization these past few years. I am honored to pass the baton over to our new Board Chair, Karen Albert. I have every confidence in her ability to lead us into the future. Although my time as Board Chair is over, I am not leaving the Board. I will continue to serve as Chair of the Finance Committee and will continue to work on Board Development. The mission of Marian House has touched my heart forever. My favorite event at Marian House is the Thanksgiving Dinner with the residents of Marian House I, where everyone in the room expresses their thanks and shares a wonderful meal.

While we could not hold the dinner in 2020 due to COVID, once this special event resumes, I will be there and will attend for the years to come! Thank you for allowing me to serve and for being a part of the Marian House family!

Sincerely,
Don Mattran, Foundry Wealth Advisors

The Goucher Prison Education Partnership

One-on-One with GPEP Alumna Shawnte Perry

 

Shawnte Perry, a fall 2020 graduate, and two fellow GPEP students who graduated in the Spring 2021 semester, are the first women in nearly 30 years to complete a bachelor’s degree through coursework offered onsite in a Maryland prison. They join former GPEP students who completed their college degrees after release from prison and students who earned Goucher bachelor’s degrees while incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Institution – Jessup. A young teenager when she went to prison, during her incarceration, Shawnte earned her high school diploma as well as completed her college education. She is now home. Shortly after this interview, Shawnte participated in the Class of 2021 Commencement ceremony on Goucher’s main campus.

Why did you decide to enroll with Goucher College? I always had a desire to further my education, so Goucher was the perfect opportunity.

Please describe a specific memory that was important to your college experience. During my college experience I have had many encounters that could be deemed as important. There were so many instructors that have left a lasting impression on me just by being so caring and effective in their role to us. Peter Mallios was one of my favorite instructors because he was always so passionate about teaching.

You earned your Goucher College Bachelor of Arts degree this past December. What do you want people to know about your journey to your degree? Well, the first thing that I would say is that the journey definitely was not an easy one. I had to stay very focused and decide to never give up no matter how hard things got.

How does it feel to be a college graduate? I am immensely proud of myself for seeing it through to the end. I feel a great sense of accomplishment and believe that obtaining my degree will help me a great deal with my future endeavors.

What will it mean to you to walk in the Goucher College graduation ceremony this spring? Being able to walk across the stage finalizes it all for me. I have dreamt of this day for many years. My family and friends have all told me how proud of me that they are. They also have shared that they did not expect anything less of me. It felt great knowing that they were so supportive and believed in me so much.

How do you hope to use your education in the future? Reaching the goal that I have set for myself… to become a therapist.

What would you say to a current student who has felt frustrated or considered giving up? I would say to them that seeing it through to the end will be the greatest feeling of accomplishment in the world that they could possibly feel, outside of those that are mothers… then I would say that it is the second best feeling of accomplishment. Always consider your future and never give up on yourselves.

You have shared that you were incarcerated at 15 years old and were released from prison late last year. You spent a year in detention and then the last 24 years at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women. This spring, the Maryland General Assembly passed the Juvenile Restoration Act banning life without parole for juveniles. There is increasing public conversation about juveniles incarcerated in adult prisons and youth given long prison sentences. Is there anything you want to share about that? It was not easy spending the rest of my adolescence and early to mid-adult years incarcerated. I deserved to do some time for committing a crime, however, I changed my life and learned the lesson, earlier on. I did not have the opportunity to come out early and show that I could be an honest productive citizen and get back into a natural flow where I probably could have had better opportunities to make a long-lasting career for myself and make the best of the rest of my younger years in society. I believe that no youth should be incarcerated past a certain amount of time. The punishment to be away from all the things that you once knew and the people that you loved is a deep pain within itself. The public needs to believe in the structure of the system that they vote on and have helped to create. This includes the rehabilitation of an individual once they have been incarcerated and that at some point, they have to trust that they will make wiser decisions in life once given the chance. Time pauses for no one… a lot of life occurrences will take place that youth will miss out on if they are behind the wall… life experiences that once it goes by, they could never get back.

What level of education had you completed before you went to prison? Before my incarceration, my highest level of education completed was the 9th grade. I had just begun my 10th grade year when I left home.

When you were 15 years old what did you think your life would be like at 41 years old? I would have definitely been a psychiatrist or psychologist by now. Somewhere in the DMV with my own office and set of clients. Helping people as I have always desired to do.

How does your life now compare to what you imagined? Getting my certification to become a licensed therapist is definitely on my active to do list. I feel like I am starting all over from scratch, well I am… so right now I am just starting my path to an actual career at 41 instead of already being secure in doing what I love already. Another challenge, yet as always, one that I am up for.

In your time as a college student, what role do you think you played for other college students in their educations? We all showed support to one another. I encouraged others in their journey, just as others had encouraged me. I would like to also believe that I set an example of what they are all fully capable of accomplishing as well. I would love to see them in the same position that I am in right now. I am proud of them for remaining active students and will be equally proud to hear about them all graduating soon as well.

What are you up to now? I am currently at Marian House [a community for women and their children in need of housing and support services] where I just finished my last set of groups, one being Job Readiness, which gives me the greenlight to start my job search. I have a lot of opportunities out here that I can get into, however, I am searching for a job that not only pays well, but also one where I am making a difference in people’s lives. Basically, I want a job that turns into a career that I desire to wake up and go to everyday.

The Goucher Prison Education Partnership Get Involved To find out more, or volunteer, teach, or donate, please visit www.goucher.edu/GPEP GPEP I 410-337-6033 I gpep.inquiries@goucher.edu
GOUCHER I college

 

If you’re interested in exploring monthly giving, please reach out to Beth at 410-467-4246 or advancement@marianhouse.org.

 

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Thank You to Our Donors & Volunteers

 

 

Thank You to Our In-Kind Donors

Adora Allen

Chick-fil-A Hunt Valley

Giant, 33rd Street

Giant, 41st Street

Giant, Cockeysville

Giant, Timonium

Valencia Hardy & Friends

Target, Towson

Wegmans, Hunt Valley

 

Thank You to Our Volunteers & Staff

Demetria Boyd

Kristin Goorevitz

Hana Hasan

Anita Hilson

Colleen Kilchenstein

Victor Konen

Peter McIver

Beth Myers-Edwards

Psalms Rojas

Eleanor Smith

Ryan Smith

Gina Weaver

Sister Sue Weetenkamp, RSM

John Weigel

Stacey Weigel

Terry Weigel

Shelley Wilson

 

Thank You to Our Wine Donors

Bradley’s Wine & Spirits, Jacksonville

Eddie’s Liquors, Baltimore

Fairgrounds Discount Beverages, Timonium

Hunt Valley Wine, Liquor & Beer,  Hunt Valley

Pinehurst Wine Shoppe, Baltimore

Shawan Fine Wine & Spirits, Cockeysville

Wells Discount Liquors, Baltimore

Wide Roots, Baltimore

Wine Source, Baltimore

Individual Wine Donors

Karen Albert

Karen Bellesky

Demetria Boyd

Colette Colclough

Kathleen Dombrowski

Anne Fader

Sister Kathleen Feeley, SSND

Sister Missy Gugerty, SSND

Keri Kemmerzell

Mary Penczek

Ashleigh Pierce

Eleanor Smith & Jacki Szimanski

Mel Tamsiti

Terry Weigel

Nicole Wildart

George Takei in 2016
Photo: Andrew Lahodynskyj/Toronto Star via Getty Images

An actor and activist, George Takei’s resolve came from his experiences while detained with his family at a Japanese internment camp from ages 5 to 9. The Takeis rough life continued afterwards, as they were left with no capital and were forced to live on L.A.’s Skid Row, an area known for a large homeless population.

The young Takei persevered and attended both the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles, where he graduated with both his bachelor and masters degrees. Though Takei wouldn’t reveal his sexuality until 2005, he lived openly among peers as a gay man and worked as an activist for several LGBTQ organizations.

He also became involved politically in Los Angeles, narrowly losing an election for City Council in 1963 and later serving as part of the Southern California Rapid Transit District where he cast the deciding vote to build the city’s subway system.

Takei remains one of the most prolific figures to have firsthand experience of the Japanese internment camps and has committed his advocacy to ensuring the horrors are never lived again by another set of people.

Called by the Spirit

Written by Sister Kathleen Feeley, SSND,
Marian House Board Member

Sister Sharon Brunier, a School Sister of Notre Dame, (SSND), lost her heart  to the ministry at Marian House—helping women begin a new life after personal struggles—on August 15, 1987, the day she joined the staff as a pastoral counselor. She has always felt that the Holy Spirit led her to Marian House, and she has never left. 

Sister Sharon’s earlier ministry was teaching in SSND schools in Maryland and South Carolina for 15 years. She left the South to obtain a master’s degree in Pastoral Counseling. Upon her graduation, she began looking for an appropriate ministry. At a large SSND gathering, Marian House Board member Sr. Ellis Denny told her that Marian House, a co-sponsored ministry of SSND had an opening for a counselor. Sr. Sharon applied and was hired by then Executive Director Sr. Marilyn Graf, RSM.

After serving for 11 years in that position, Sharon felt the need for a change. A new counselor replaced her, and she took a six months sabbatical. She had not intended to return, but she found that her heart was still there. She took a position in the Development Office, reaching out to current and potential donors for six years. Then the position of Education Coordinator opened, and she found that she could combine her talents as educator and counselor.

For the past 17 years, Sister Sharon has worked with Marian House women to achieve educational goals by first counseling them on the power that education brings, and then helping them to set goals and achieve them.

One of her bittersweet memories is of Dawn, who completed Marian House I, and moved across the street to supportive housing at Serenity Place with her three-year-old son, her only family. Dawn really wanted to obtain her GED. Sister Sharon worked with her, and she passed all the exams but math. Dawn was ready to give up. But Sharon was not. She tutored her and worked with her until Dawn finally passed math. But obtaining her GED was only one of Dawn’s dreams. Sadly, those dreams were left unfulfilled. Dawn died four years later after a valiant battle with cancer.

Sister Sharon is a Spirit-centered woman. After 34 years of fruitful ministry at 949 Gorsuch Avenue, she feels blessed to still be where her heart led her: to the women of Marian House.

 

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