Rev. Roger Zepernick from the Latin American Cultural Exchange Organization (LACEO) prison ministry presented a $500 scholarship to Esperanza College last Wednesday, Oct. 2. The prisoners collected and donated their own money as a way to encourage and send a message to youth in the Hunting Park community that “education is important.”
Thank you for your contribution and support to Esperanza College’s students and mission to provide members of the Hispanic and local communities a Christian faith-based education that is affordable and culturally appropriate so that they can continue their contributions to and leadership in their communities.
On behalf of the Latin American Cultural Exchange Organization and our many charitable partners, we are proud to join Esperanza College in awarding the Education Over Incarceration Scholarship.
If there is one thing that is needed to succeed, above all others, it is faith. An athlete has to have faith that he will score the winning run; a gymnast has to have faith in a perfect routine. A singer has to have in the audience and an artist must have faith in her vision. A parent has to have faith in the child, the child has to have faith in school. We all need to have faith that making our dreams come true is possible, and we need to believe that our dreams matter to someone as much as they matter to ourselves.
This is why the Education over Incarceration Fund was founded: so that dreams can be realized and the nightmare of prison can be avoided; so that we can choose school over the streets: so that those that think they have been forgotten can be given a reminder that no wall can hold us back, no razor wire can cut us down, and no distance can keep us from telling you that YOU matter – that we believe in tour goals so faithfully that we will pool together our pennies if we have to in order to fund your dreams.
All we ask in return is that you believe in yourself a little more each day; that you move yourself a little closer to the person you dream of being. It won’t always be easy. There will be haters along the way that will try to drag you down. If asking you to love them enough to lift them up out of their hate is too much to ask, then at the very least love yourself enough not to be brought low. Yes, there are many people to acknowledge this scholarship but the most important people that need to be recognized are the students. This is your moment so make the most of it. Make the world.