This spring, Thrive for Life held a three-part series of events connected by the theme of Walking with the Excluded, one of the Jesuits’ Universal Apostolic Preferences.

Thrive for Life and Georgetown University’s Pivot Program and Prisons & Justice Initiative share a similar mission - supporting formerly incarcerated individuals returning home.

This #GivingTuesday, power real change by supporting two Jesuit ministries committed to people on the margins: Thrive For Life Prison Project and America Media.

George Chochos’s academic credentials read like a list of George Patton’s military decorations. He holds a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology from Yale Divinity School, a master’s degree from the New York Theological Seminary, a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies from Bard College, and he is currently pursuing a PhD in Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University.

But it all started with a mistake.

John Booth and his wife Nancy Méndez-Booth were at a crossroads in life. They were both looking for something more meaningful. They found that meaning at Thrive for Life as they both became spiritual mentors behind and beyond the prison walls.

I had a goal. For the first two weeks of the new year, I would work to make Ignacio House dream library a reality. For me, working to create this vision was a labor of love. It’s impossible to overestimate what a book means to me. When I was in a dark place, the only light I ever saw came from a word, the only love I ever felt was found in the heart of characters I admired and for whom I wanted nothing but the best. I always connected with libraries as gardeners connected with their garden. Going to the library was like visiting a land full with mysterious trees of unimaginable fruit. As fruits nourish and enrich, so does reading.

We are pleased to present you with our 2020 Gratitude Report.