Spotlight : Nancy & John Booth

John Booth and his wife Nancy Méndez-Booth were at a crossroads in life. They were both looking for something more meaningful. 

In 2014, John had just completed his Masters in Spiritual Direction and was completing 15 years as a public defender. Nancy was feeling burnt out from a “soul sucking” corporate career and looking into pursuing creative writing. They both eventually found what they were looking for when they were introduced to Thrive for Life.

John started his journey ‘behind the prison walls’ as a spiritual mentor at Thrive for Life retreats. He spent the past five years going to Sing Sing, Ottisville, and other facilities where he would meet with incarcerated people in small groups to share stories, meditate, and be there to support the retreat participants.

“You could say the people that attend the retreats behind the prison walls are really the ‘cream of the crop’. They want to be there and they want to do better and be better versions of themselves. They care about us volunteers as much as we care about them.” - John

Nancy was always a self-described “plus one” with John at Thrive for Life events beyond the prison walls. It was during the Covid-19 pandemic that Nancy took the next step, bringing her talents and experience in writing to Ignacio House residents through a virtual seven week continuing education course entitled Creative Writing.

“A large focus of my writing classes is to teach my students to go into those vulnerable places within ourselves in order to write honestly and write stories that define who you are as an author. 

As a natural occurrence people tend to draw upon traumatic events and use writing as a way to process the past.  My hope is always to have each person involved to see themselves as a writer and to embrace that identity and to value what they have to say.” -  Nancy