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A Lesson From the Last Chair |
Dear John,
On this Giving Tuesday, we invite you to take a moment to reflect on the experiences that shaped your belief in a more just and compassionate world. Many of us carry a story that brought us closer to this work. I’d like to share one of mine.
Before joining LEAP, I spent time working inside prisons, where I taught, listened to, and learned from people who had been written off by society. My first class took place in a small, unassuming room with white walls and sixteen orange chairs arranged in a circle. Over time, those chairs held more than just students. They held stories, heartache, laughter, and a kind of hope that refuses to die. |
After our first two-hour session, I asked the women what had surprised them most about our time together. One woman raised her hand and said, “You sat in the last chair. I would have never dreamed that chair was planned for you.”
At first, I didn’t understand what she meant. But as we talked, I realized that by sitting in the last chair, I had sent them a message, that I wasn’t there to lead from above, but to sit beside them, to learn with them, to be part of their circle.
That moment reminded me that change begins when we meet people where they are. I have seen this truth over and over during my time teaching in prisons. The most profound breakthroughs happen when someone feels safe enough to laugh, to share a piece of themselves, or to allow a flicker of hope back in. That mutual spark of humanity, nurtured in a place designed to extinguish it, showed me what real impact looks like. |
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This realization is what ultimately brought me to LEAP. I wanted to be part of an organization that embraces the truth I saw in that classroom, leading with the understanding that dignity, empathy, and understanding can transform not just people, but systems.
Every day, LEAP’s work builds bridges between law enforcement and the communities they serve. And one of those communities I care most deeply about just happens to live behind prison walls. It’s a place so often forgotten, yet filled with people still reaching for connection, still building something that feels like hope. They are a community all the same, deserving of fairness, dignity, and the chance to be seen.
The work we do reminds me of that last chair—the courage it takes to sit down, listen, and see humanity where the world has taught us not to look. This Giving Tuesday, I hope you’ll join us in continuing this mission.
Thank you for believing in this work.
Laura Boesen |
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