Members of GEO Reentry Services’ New Jersey Alumni Services network recently participated in “Parents Engaging Parents” in Newark on Aug. 16. The event provides children with backpacks loaded with school supplies. Alumni, PEP staff and families, and volunteer community members helped pack 1,000 backpacks with donated school supplies so children in need could positively start the new year.
Mr. Frazier, presently a coordinator for PEP, a non-profit organization, is an alumnus from Talbot Hall’s reentry programming in Kearny, New Jersey. A long-standing member of the NJ Alumni Services group, Mr. Frazier invited alumni to the annual PEP event, where a group of volunteers pack donated bookbags with pencils, pens, notebooks and various items. New Jersey alumni members have participated in the important event for the last two years.
“This event is an opportunity to give back to the community, as I was given an opportunity to get resources for my own development and betterment,” Mr. Frazier said, regarding helping children start school on the right foot.
As the result of being the recipient of reentry programming, Mr. Frazier is committed to giving back to others — a concept he takes pride in by working with the active New Jersey Alumni Services network. He credits Arthur Townes, director of the Alumni Services network in New Jersey, as his mentor.
“The backpack initiative is an opportunity to showcase and represent that fathers are involved with their children. We understand the importance of education and are proud that both our children have graduated and are attending college,” Mr. Frazier said.
PEP has also arranged for some of the packed bags to be donated at the New Jersey Alumni Services picnic held this year on Sept. 8. The picnic draws more than 300 alumni members, families and staff from New Jersey and Pennsylvania reentry facilities. Attending staff have a chance to see the benefits of their hard work and witness reunited families and former residents now leading productive lives. Held in a park, complete with food, entertainment and music, the bags of school supplies will be available to those in need and those newly reentering the community.