March 31, 2025 • 50 mins
This is part 2 of a 5 part interview series highlighting the amazing work that is happening in Kewanee, Illinois in regards to prison ministry and re-entry initiatives.
In this powerful episode of the Wrong to Strong Podcast, host Omar Calvillo is joined by special guests Fred and Chance for a heartfelt discussion on the redemptive journey from incarceration to reintegration. Fred shares his experiences growing up in Illinois, facing life challenges, and the impact of a supportive community on his re-entry into society after serving nearly 30 years in prison. Chance, along with his wife, opens up about their commitment to prison ministry and their personal journey in helping former inmates rebuild their lives. Tune in for inspiring stories of hope, faith, and perseverance, and learn about the transformative power of compassion and community support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Omar (00:15):
From the city of Chicago, a city most recently known for
its crime and violence.
On this podcast, we will besharing stories of redemption
from individuals raised in thetough streets of Chicago and
from around the country.
Some of them were gang members,drug dealers, incarcerated
victims, and perpetrators ofviolence.
(00:36):
Listen to my guests as theyshare their experiences,
struggles, trauma, but also thestrength, Hope, faith and
perseverance.
These have developed in them tokeep pushing and moving forward
in life.
Tune in to hear how their liveshave gone from darkness to light
and from wrong to strong.
Hello, everyone.
(00:57):
Welcome to to Strong Chicagopodcast.
I'm your host.
My name is Omar Calvillo.
Uh, and tonight, we're out herein, uh, Kewanee, Illinois.
Uh, we're out here, uh, uh,brother Chance is home.
He invited us, uh, to thank youfor your hospitality, brother,
for allowing us to come outhere.
Uh, so I drove out here with,uh, Ronnie Carrasquillo.
He wanted to, uh, bring me outhere.
to highlight some of thestories, uh, as far as prison
(01:18):
ministry goes, what thiscommunity in particular is doing
as far as a prison ministry.
So, a little earlier, Iinterviewed, uh, Chance's wife,
uh, Michelle.
So you know, I don't know if I'mgoing to release that interview
first or this one, you know,we'll see.
But eventually you're going tohear both, you know, and with us
also, we got my brother Fred.
I just met his brother out here.
So welcome to the podcast,brothers.
(01:41):
Thank you.
So I'm going to start with Fred,you know, cause you, you had
experience as far as theKewanee, you know, as far as the
prison system.
Uh, but, but before, as we getinto this part of it, you, you
want to tell us, uh, where didyou grow up at?
And, uh, tell us how, how waslife for you when you were
younger, maybe in thoseformative years that you can
remember?
Fred (02:01):
Well, I, I was actually, um, I'm not from Chicago, I was
born in New York.
Okay.
So me and my mother, we, um,took a Greyhound, we took a
Greyhound bus.
Probably when I was like twoyears old, came to Illinois.
You know, her and my father was,um, going through their own
little personal issues, so shefelt the need to leave the
(02:23):
situation.
and relocate.
Um, growing up, I stayed someeverywhere in Illinois.
I done lived in Hazel Crest.
I done lived in Harvey.
I done lived in Bloomington.
I done lived in like the northside, the west side, the south
side, you know.
(02:45):
So with that, you can imaginewhat it's like being the kid
going from school to school,school to school, school to
school.
So I never was like stationary,like as a child, you know, a lot
of kids nowadays have one stableschool and they go to that
school, that grammar school,then they graduate and they go
to a high school and then theygraduate from that high school.
(03:07):
I wasn't like that for me.
So with that, I had, uh, I don'twant to say problems, but I had
issues, you know, doing certainthings and, um,
Omar (03:19):
Well, when, when, when you look back now, obviously, you
know, we, we, we, we're lookingback.
How do you feel that affectedyou as you, as you got older?
Like that, that, that part of itaffected, it
Fred (03:28):
affected, it affected, it affected me in a lot of ways
because I never really had asolid foundation to like, you
know, stand on because I wasalways moving, you know, when
you want a child to be able tofully develop into the person
that they go grow up to being,you know, especially like with
(03:51):
just being productive.
but I was comfortable in societyby being stationary meaning a
school.
They're here to teach us thatinvest in them whole heartedly.
And they graduate from thatschool when they move on to
other schools and you know, itwas like that for me.
I'll get comfortable in onearea.
Then we got to move, you know,again, we got to move.
(04:17):
So it's like it was frustrating.
Yeah.
because Growing up, I wasn'table to catch on, like catch on
to certain things.
'cause I wasn't learning.
I was learning, but it was like,you take me from doing this in
this class and snatch me out.
Now you put me in the class.
So they already in the middle ofsomething else.
(04:37):
Yeah.
And that was like, you
Omar (04:40):
know, I was trying to pay like, uh, catch up.
Catch up, like wherever you go.
Exactly.
How, how do you feel thataffected you?
Like, like moving into yourteenage years, you know, like
those, what, what did you start,you know, how, how does life
look for you?
Fred (04:51):
It affected, it affected me.
A lot.
Um, in my teenage years, itfalls on my decision making
because my decision making wasall over the place.
You know, I got like when I gotincarcerated, I was 16.
I was a juvenile.
Um,
Omar (05:08):
I could ask you before you got a 16, any, any male role
models in your life in thistime, maybe trying to steer you
in a positive direction or didyou have somebody that
influenced you, whether in agood way or a bad way, I guess,
who, who played like a, like abig role as far as influence
during those teenage years?
Fred (05:24):
Um, the people that I would say had like somewhat of a
positive influence on me, um,they was, they, like, they
really weren't family.
It was like people that I met,like being in the neighborhood,
you know, like certain oldpeople that, you know, it was
like cool, but I had someteachers though like, I remember
(05:48):
one teacher, um, named Ms.
Oldman, like, that lady wasamazing, you know.
I, to this day, I still hearher, hear her name on my phone,
hope, like, a picture of her popup.
I was like, oh, that's her.
I could reach out to her.
Omar (06:04):
Um.
Is there something in particularthat she spoke over you, or
what, did she show you love orencouragement in a certain
Fred (06:11):
way?
Well, I was in, I was in, um, Iwas in, like, behavior
discipline.
Disorder class, you know, uh,BD, you know, I had a behavior
disorder, um, and she was likeone of the teachers in the class
and she came in that class likecompletely transparent, willing
to help all the kids that was inthe class and we had some of the
(06:36):
kids that was abusing it, like,you know, throwing desks at her
and stuff like that.
I was like her protector in asense because she was a good
person, like a genuine person.
And like, and here it is, yougot someone that's trying to
help you and, you know, reallylike invest who they are into
you and you just not, you know,taking it for granted.
(06:56):
So I always had a soft spot forpeople like that, even when I
was little, you know, so thatshould probably be the
Omar (07:04):
one that comes to mind.
All right.
Now you mentioned at 16 beingincarcerated, that, that, that
start like leading into a lot ofincarceration.
Or was it?
Fred (07:13):
No, man.
I was, um, how they say, jumpout.
I jumped off the porch, man.
I was like 12 years old.
Full, full, full throttle.
Growing up in Humboldt Park.
Um, you know, people that's fromthe area, they know how it is
growing up in the area.
(07:34):
From Augustine, um, Augustine,Francisco to California and
Augusta from North Avenue and,you know.
Chicago Avenue, just all overthe place.
And I grew up in a time wheregrowing up in them areas, it was
(07:56):
like you represented somethingfor me from different sides.
And my friends, we all just madedecisions, bad decisions,
actually bad decisions, poorchoices as kids to join street
gangs.
And um, in the process of doingthat, I made a decision.
(08:18):
When I was 16 that uh Cost me alarge part of my life How many
years did you end up doingtotally I was sentenced to 60
years at the age of 16 and I did28 straight years off that
(08:38):
sentence
Omar (08:41):
How recently ago did you get released December 23, okay,
man For years.
Fairly recent.
Yeah.
Two years.
Okay.
So you, you know what, we, wewe're gonna, I'm sure there's,
is there anything that standsout during your time, good or
bad?
Any, uh, memories you wannashare?
You know, before we doing mytime?
Yeah, during your time, likeduring all that?
(09:02):
Yeah.
Like anything.
Uh, oh man.
I'm sure there's plenty yourstories.
I know we you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Fred (09:09):
I grew up in the system pretty much.
Um, I came in 16 years old wentto Pontiac, you know, it was
called the Thunderdome.
So I was 17, 17 years old andPontiac Correctional Center at
the time it was a Thunderdome.
So I grew up in the system.
Um, you know, they had thepredator and prey mentality
(09:32):
with, you know, a lot of theguys was taking advantage,
trying to take advantage of theyoung guys.
And I went into the system withthe mindset where you're not
going to take advantage of me.
So I had a lot of, I had a lotof situations in there, but I
always was the aggressor.
And to be honest, like, youknow, in a moment I look back
(09:56):
like, man, some of the decisionsI made back then was, you know,
necessary because that's whatgot me to where I am today.
I had to survive.
I was like, he put in the.
situation around at the begrownfolks, and I, you know, I made
it through.
God kept me.
Omar (10:16):
Gotcha.
I know you mentioned God.
What, what does, uh, what roledoes God play in your life?
For you from younger or evenduring the prison time till,
till now?
Fred (10:25):
God always played a, um, part of my life, even when
people didn't, you know, fromthe outside looking in, didn't
know.
You know, I remember growing upas a kid, my mother dressing us
up, you know, taking us tochurch, putting Vaseline all
over my face.
I ain't like it, you know.
Um, but I remember going toservices with my mother.
(10:46):
It wasn't every Sunday, but she,she instilled God in me as a
child.
Um, and um, but I was in prison,to be honest.
A lot of the services that wewas, um, back then, we, we do
the lives and service for allthe wrong reasons.
You know, there was likemessage, message services, like
(11:09):
in the beginning of myincarceration, but I got older
and start actually like takingcertain things in my life
serious, like getting to knowGod and building my own personal
relationship with God.
Um, I learned that God is real.
Um, I had opportunities toattend classes where I met
(11:31):
brothers like Ronnie and, um,Paul and, and these like later
on in my years, like on theverge of coming home where I met
these guys.
And they didn't know how much ofan impact they was having in my
life just by hearing some of thethings they was going through,
how they was moving because Iwas always quiet and I stayed to
(11:52):
myself and we never really ranin the same circle.
But we surround each other.
Um, so God played a great rolein my life, man.
He's reason one.
Yeah.
Omar (12:06):
Amen.
Amen, brother.
Yeah.
Hey, man, you know what?
I want to get into that thatpart of you.
Don't worry.
We're out here in Kewanee.
God.
Okay.
Can you talk about yourexperience in Kewanee?
My experience in
Fred (12:17):
Kewanee.
I came home being in life skillreentry center.
Um, I was Well, I had a supportsystem, you know, my fiance,
soon to be my wife.
Um, she, she, uh, she washolding me down, man, tenfold.
(12:38):
Um, and you know, a lot ofpeople take for granted, you
know, a lot of the females thatbe in their lives when they're
in that type of situation.
Thinking that they, you know,just gonna have a red carpet
laid out for them.
She did what she could do, youknow, with their reason, you
know.
Oh, and I care.
Um, I was lucky enough to havemy, get my own place and I was,
(13:00):
uh, on the inside, I had a jobworking for the city.
So I used to leave out theinstitution every day and then
that's how I was able to leaveand I stacked up a nice, a nice
amount of money, man.
That she didn't know about, myfiance didn't know about.
I can tell her, you know what Imean, you know what I mean?
But, uh, but, uh, that gave me agood head start.
(13:25):
man.
And it was, you know, thanks toWarden Carruthers, to be honest.
Thanks to Warden Carruthers andWarden Jones for signing the
paperwork allowing me toactually come within their
facility.
You know, after observing me andseeing the type of person I was,
they gave me a shot to actuallywork for the city and put me in
(13:45):
a position where I was able tolike, you know, relearn myself
and see the streets, you know,in a different way and actually
be a You know, for a certainamount of hours, I had to go
back, but it was life changing.
Omar (14:00):
How much time did you have left when they allowed you to
start doing that, to leave andcome back?
Fred (14:05):
Well, I had like, when I got to the re entry center, I
was at the end of myincarceration.
My original out date was 2025,like March 16th.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, um, a couple of days fromnow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A couple of days, right?
(14:25):
And, but, uh, through the graceof God, man, uh, I mean, I was
in East Moline, taking it back alittle bit.
And, uh, by me staying out oftrouble for the amount of time I
had to stay out of trouble, thedirector, um, gave me 19 months
at one time, good time back.
(14:46):
That's a
Omar (14:46):
lot.
Fred (14:47):
Gave me 19 months.
So, uh, put me in a positionwhere I could actually go to
Kewaunee.
And I put in for it.
They allowed me to go after, youknow, observing me or whatever.
And once I got there, I just,you know, kept my head down,
worked out, you know, stuck tomyself, went to school, did what
I had to do.
When the opportunity came for meto get a job on the outside, I
(15:08):
got it, saved me some money.
They put me in a position whereI got housing.
When I came home, you know, Imet, I met a lot of people in
the community, man.
Um, it first started with Lance,Lance and Steve Franklin.
They was at my house, man, butthere was nothing in there.
(15:30):
Um, I had a blower mattress andthe clothes my fiancee got me
and it was like, man, hey, wehere, you know, and they took me
to, they took me to theparsonage this man and, and
actually looked out for me.
Um, Some of the stuff that theygave me, I still have,
Omar (15:51):
you know what I mean?
What are some of the things thatthey helped you out with?
Fred (15:57):
Uh, man, they had a house, man, they had a house full of
everything, like, ready to getthat, take that, get that, get
that, you know, get them cups,get them plates, get them
spoons, stuff that you thinkthat you really ain't, you know,
gonna need too much, but youlike, hold on, all the small
things, you know what I mean?
(16:18):
Um, coffee pots and beds and,you know, box springs,
Omar (16:24):
man,
Fred (16:26):
you know, so, um, they gave, they gave me a head start.
So with that help and the littlemoney I accumulated coming home
helped me for the, you know,time being that I land me a job
working out here and, um, aGreat Dane.
(16:49):
And then like, and to be honest,man, that like, it really,
really helped me because I wasable to provide for myself, you
know, pay my rent, pay my, youknow, like bills and my, you
know, because those things youthink about when you went
outside, because I mean on theinside, because when I was in
there, when I left the streetsin the beginning, I was 16 years
old.
My mama paid all my bills.
That's why you had noexperience.
(17:11):
You know, I want to pay mybills, paid the bills, you know,
I probably was, you know, doingother stuff in the streets or
whatever, but So, I got helpfrom people that's been out here
(17:36):
in the community, and theyembraced me,
Omar (17:38):
man.
Hey man, you know what?
We're gonna talk about one ofthose persons right now.
Uh, Chance, you wanna tell us,how did you get involved in uh,
in prison ministry, you know?
Chance (17:48):
Uh, I got I got involved because of my wife, she started
going and I kind of just gotcurious and wanted to go, I
guess, see what it was about.
I mean, you think about the reentry prison, well let me back
this up, when you think aboutprison, you think about like
what you see on TV, you know,nothing good.
(18:09):
Um, so I wanted to go out thereand see it and when I first
walked in there, I think I metPaul, he gave me a bottle of
water, and then I met Ronnie,um.
And I met a couple other guys inthere and I liked it.
Um, I've gone back a couple oftimes.
I went to Bible study with mywife a few times.
Um, I'm actually in the processof trying to get the paperwork
(18:30):
done so I can get a badge.
So I can go whenever I want togo.
Uh, that's what my wife hasbecause with my job, it's hard,
it's hard for me to call chapand say, Hey, I want to go
tonight.
And I could possibly maybe notmake it, you know, um, I went
and did, uh, some Bible studydown in Peoria.
At the, the work facility downthere, um, it definitely changes
(18:54):
your perspective on people likeit makes you more open to see
people for who they are, not forwhat they've done.
Um, it's a, it's a good thing.
They're doing good things out
Omar (19:09):
there.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Like it changes the perspective,right?
I guess.
No, no.
Before going, like, um, youknow, I know you mentioned
sometimes your job, but whatexactly do you do out here and
all?
What, how, how, how does lifelook for you?
Chance (19:21):
Uh, I, I work for a farmer and me and my wife have
some cattle of our own.
Um, life out here consists offeeding cattle and, and going to
work and.
Hanging out with my wife and mykids and, you know, just, just
doing the, the farm life.
Some days they're long, but youget to look out the window all
(19:46):
day and see everything Godcreated.
Omar (19:48):
Yeah.
Chance (19:48):
So,
Omar (19:49):
I know we came on a good day.
You were spreading on manure outthere, right?
Fertilizing the ground.
God created that too, right?
Yup.
Yup.
You gotta help the crop grow.
But, you know, it's crazy how,how everything serves a purpose,
man, even like that.
You know, it fertilizes well,you know, like, so it's just
amazing now, um, you know, likeI could ask you like, like, um,
(20:09):
growing up, family, friends, didyou ever, anybody close to you
ever experience, you know, theprison system?
Well, I guess what's your, yourpersonal experience prior to
serving in prison ministry?
With anybody, I guess, you know,And on that side, as far as like
Chance (20:25):
I had a, had a aunt that served, went to prison for a
while.
Um, I never got to see her.
I was kind of young when thathappened.
Um, I got in my fair share oftrouble when I was a kid.
I spent a couple nights in jail,uh, for doing dumb things that
I, I shouldn't have been doing.
Uh, after doing that a coupletimes, I realized that ain't
(20:49):
where I wanted to be.
Um, I I met my wife and sheprobably, she probably
straightened me out.
I mean, we were a little wild onour own, but you know, she kept
me from doing things I shouldn'tbe doing.
Um, so yeah, I guess, and I hada, a good friend, he was kind of
(21:10):
in and out of jail a lot, hewent to prison a couple of times
and got out and he didn't goback and he didn't get out and
he didn't go back.
Um, so I guess, yeah.
Yeah.
Omar (21:22):
Yeah.
Like seeing that.
Yeah.
Okay.
Got it.
Now, um, now, now, now going uh,to, to, to Kewanee you wanna
talk about your experience?
I, I, I know now, right now wewere here with, uh, Fred.
Like, what, what are some ofthese connections that I, I
guess not only in there, buteven to have people to your
home.
Could, could you take us throughthat, uh, transition, you know,
like meeting these guys in thereand then I guess after, um, me,
(21:46):
uh, meeting them, seeing howthey are like actually opening
up your home.
'cause it's one thing to govisit somebody in prison.
And it's another, I think it's ahuge thing to open up your
doors.
You know, you could, tell us, Iguess the mindset or what, what
got you to, to this, I
Chance (21:59):
guess.
Um, I would say in thebeginning, I wasn't real sure,
like we kind of thought we'dkeep it, you know, just a
prison, you know, see the guyswhen I got out, um, we weren't
really sure about our home justcause of our kids.
And, you know, um, my, my, my.
(22:20):
My buddy here, Freddy, like mywife said, she, uh, asked him to
go to church and I didn't knowwho this guy was.
We pulled up, he come walkingout and I was like, I know
Omar (22:31):
people can't see because he's sitting down, but he's a
pretty, how, how, how, how, howtall are you brother?
I'm 5'11 5'11 but he's pretty,pretty stocky, right?
Yeah.
He come walking out the door
Chance (22:40):
and I was like, he got in the car and shook my hand and
we went to church and I don'tknow, he's, he's my brother, I,
I love him.
Hey.
He's a, he's a, he's a gooddude,
Omar (22:53):
man.
Am I?
I'm, I'm, I'm proud of him.
Yeah.
What are some of the thingsyou've seen personally, like
from him, you know, like what,what do you see in him now?
Chance (23:01):
Like, I guess he's, he's just straight.
He goes to work every day.
He, he goes to church with usevery Sunday, sit right beside
each other.
Um, he's always helping in thecommunity.
He was actually at a churchearlier tonight, helping out,
um, what was that for?
Um, they,
Fred (23:18):
they raise, raise money for kids.
Go to camp.
Nice.
Yeah, so I was helping them, uh,organize some stuff that I, I
ain't gonna lie, I be doing alot of stuff that, what they
say?
Unsung heroes.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I be doing a lot of stuff.
I don't really be, you know.
Omar (23:37):
Gotcha.
Like, you, you the one, uh, Idon't be boasting about.
No.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but hey, we,we need to know, man.
'cause uh, uh, I mean, you know,the people need to know too.
'cause uh, oh.
Uh, because the, the reason Isay that is'cause you know,
like.
A lot of people think, man,these guys that you, you did
almost, man, almost 30 years,you know, like you think
somebody's going to come out andjust be hardened, but, you know,
just by you sharing that storyof that teacher and you doing
(24:00):
this thing with the kids, Iguess, uh, what, what helped you
keep, I guess that, um, thatI'll say that you have to be,
you have a tender heart, man,like a loving, caring heart in
order to do some of the thingsthat you're doing.
So, uh, what, what allowed younot to get like hardened
completely?
You know, to be able to do whatyou're doing now as far as
serving in the community,serving in church?
(24:21):
Um, well,
Fred (24:23):
to be honest, um, me wanting to like, get back, play
a part in me just takingsomeone's life, man.
You, um, I took some, I tooksomething from the world, from
family, you know, and you know,I, you know, I know I can't.
(24:48):
Bring that person back, but if Icould help somebody That's
that's I just feel that's theneed for me to do.
This is something I found myheart to do Genuinely is
catching kids selling lemonade.
I'll pull over Bought some moneyhere No, y'all get y'all money
(25:10):
You know, I'm just giving backman Hey, man, that's I took away
I took away I took away I tookaway.
So now it's time for Get back,you know, some people see the
outside and then they get toknow me like, man, he's a good
dude.
Omar (25:26):
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, yeah, they can't be quickto, to judge a book by its
cover.
You know,
Fred (25:33):
people, a lot of people, you know, they be quick to
judge.
You know, they sit and talk.
They were like, well, I took himfor something else.
No, right, right.
You know, you know, That's why Ilove, that's why I love Chance
Michelle.
much because they actually gave,they actually like, not only
opened their house to me, butthey actually gave me the
(25:55):
opportunity to like, meet theirkids, man.
You know, their kids, you know,I love their kids, you know.
Um, I can come here anytime Iwant.
The door's always open.
You know, uh, and there's juststuff like that, man.
(26:15):
They see what I do.
Yeah, yeah.
You know.
I don't drink, I don't smoke, Idon't do nothing man, I just try
to keep positive, you know,work, go to church, you
Omar (26:27):
know.
You know, I interviewed two guysfrom Louisiana, they were both
in Angola, both of them werelifers, they weren't supposed to
get out.
One of them got out through achange in the law and the other
one got out cause the, I thinkthe sheriff or whoever it was,
somebody went and vouched forhim.
(26:47):
In front of the court, but he,he, he now tries to help guys
get out and as I was doinginterview with him, he said one
thing, he's like, man, like Idon't go to speak for everybody
like to get out.
He's like, man, there's someguys that shouldn't be getting
out.
So he says, he asked himselfthis question before he vouches
for somebody, he's like, can Itrust them to be my next door
(27:09):
neighbor?
You know?
Can I trust them to say, Heyman, I'm going to be out of
town.
Can you keep an eye on my wifeand my kids?
You know, that's, that's, that'smy, uh,
Fred (27:19):
it's funny.
You
Omar (27:20):
say, go, go ahead.
Yeah,
Fred (27:21):
we was at, uh, uh, we was at, uh, we was at, uh, we was
at, uh, in Princeton.
Chance (27:28):
Oh, at, uh, uh,
Fred (27:30):
county fair.
Oh yeah.
We was at the county fair.
Uh, we, I was at the, we had thecattle show, you know, I came
through, you know, showing offthe cattle and everything.
And Tyson come pick you up.
Yeah, Tyson came and got me.
And um, they had, you know,little amusement, little
amusement, little amusement parkrides, you know, roller, little
(27:50):
roller coasters and stuff likethat.
So, Lilly, their daughter, andTyson, their son, uh, Lilly was
like, Come on, Freddie, come on.
Every time I come around, she'slike, if it's something, with
some activity going on, she tryto pull me by the arm.
Come on, come on, come on.
So, they like, alright, y'allget to go with Freddie.
(28:11):
You know, and it's stuff likethat.
You know, he trusts me enough toknow that I won't let nothing
happen to his daughter.
You know, or his son, you know.
And he said it out loud, like,she's safe with Freddy.
Nobody gonna mess with her.
He, cause he know it's true.
Ain't nobody gonna mess withher.
Chance (28:28):
I told Billy, I said, uh, Your first boyfriend don't
have a deal with me.
He's got a deal with Freddy.
Billy just looks at me, I said,I'm serious.
Freddy says it's okay then.
Um, that's That's so bad.
Now, Freddy, Freddy's like abrother.
I sometimes, we don't talk everyday, but we normally talk a
(28:48):
couple times a week.
Okay, gotcha.
You know, sometimes we get busy,he gets busy, it just, you know,
but I've always told him, youknow, if he's having trouble
calling me, it's same for me.
I mean, it's nice to havesomebody to rely on, you know,
and me and Freddy can bestraight with each other, no
judgment, you know?
And that's what you need.
So.
Gotcha.
Omar (29:08):
And any, um, anything?
Anything that we didn't touch onthat you guys wanna talk about,
you know what I'm saying?
Like, anything that I'm missingthat's important, I guess, to
highlight, maybe the community?
I feel like,
Fred (29:18):
y'all, I feel like just having this, um, this
conversation, just being, youknow, coming, you taking the
trip to actually get to know usand hear some of the stories
from the guys that's out here,that's, that's great, man,
because, you know, like Ronnie,Ronnie spoke on with being in
(29:39):
Chicago, it's such a largeplatform, you know, get cloudy,
you don't be able to seeeverybody.
So this town, they don't evenreally understand the magnitude
of like civility that, you know,there's been show hospitality
that's been show to the guyscoming, you know, to this
(30:01):
community from that situationand you taking a trip and
sharing some light on it, man,that bad.
Is a blessing, man.
Oh yeah, for sure.
Man.
You know, everyday walkingWalmart, man.
When they see you, you know, webump into, you know, staff from
the facility and they see us andfrom there to, and then they
(30:24):
like, wow, you guys, you doinggreat.
Yeah.
Fred (2) (30:27):
Yeah.
Well, you met one, that's kindof fair.
Oh, yeah.
Oh yeah.
I don't wanna talk about her
Fred (30:31):
though.
I don't wanna give her, I don'twanna give her no shine.
No, no, no.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
Sometimes you gotta let peoplestay there and then she, that
person.
I just wanted to
Omar (30:42):
let her judge and stay in that place.
No, right, right.
No, but you know that's awesome,man, to hear that.
You know, whether, you know,good or bad, whether
interaction, but for you to beable to be on the other side of
the fence now, you know what I'msaying, is real.
You know, I never had thatexperience because obviously,
you know, I was downstatemyself, but going to Chicago, I
(31:05):
never had a chance to.
So that's got to be you, youunique, right?
I mean.
Of course.
Of
Fred (31:10):
course.
Of course.
Um, when you, when you, uh, whenyou go and you be looking for
some eggs and you see Sarge andblah blah blah and you like,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,you know it.
You know, back in the day,people be like, yeah, I might be
the person that you see in thegrocery store.
Now, it's for
Omar (31:26):
real.
Yeah,
Fred (31:27):
you
Fred (2) (31:28):
know,
Fred (31:29):
man.
But, um, coming from thatfacility, man, and a lot of the
There.
I don't even lie to you, man.
The majority of the staff therewas respectful.
They treated us like humans.
Um, you know, you gotta let theyeses be your, the yeses and the
nos be the nos.
(31:50):
You know, you can't let you knowthe situation.
Some people try to takeadvantage of the situation
because you have someone that'scarrying hard and genuinely want
to just treat you like a humanbeing and they take you for
granted.
Um, yeah, but for the most part,for.
As far as myself, um, myexperience being in Life Skills,
(32:13):
man, was educational.
I learned a lot about myselfbeing there.
Um, I met my fiancée when I wasthere.
Um, I met Ronnie while I wasthere.
I met Paul while I was there.
I met Mike while I was there.
I met Bobby while I was there.
(32:34):
You know, happy.
Um, my baby brother.
Um, Big Sam, you know, it's alot of guys, uh, that's come
from that situation.
It's a part of this communitythat's actually adding to the
(32:57):
community and actually helping.
And, you know, it's good to seeguys flourish.
Especially, you know, we allnot, we not perfect, you know,
there's going to be some hurdlesin the road, but when you got
people like Chance the Machine.
GL is there to support you.
Omar (33:17):
Right?
It's dope.
Amen.
One of my goals and my prayersis to one day get these podcasts
behind bars, you know, becausethe guys got tablets in there
nowadays, you know, they'll beable to access Yeah.
So we'll put a little somethingmore positive in there.
Big, big, big huge, you know,but um, I guess one of the
(33:38):
questions, what would you say tosomebody that's in there?
Well, what's the importanceabout surrounding?
I know you mentioned a lot ofthese great guys that you met in
there that helped you get onthis.
What are some things they coulddo to prepare?
Because unfortunately, a lot ofguys only prepare to come out
when they're short.
Whether it's like six months, Idon't know when that that
program starts, but what couldthey do to begin to prepare and
(34:00):
the importance of surroundingyourself with some guys that are
actually trying to do somethinggood or steer you in the right
direction, you know?
Fred (34:07):
You know, uh, first of all, you know, you gotta be
prepared to shake off thenaysayers.
Cause, there's gonna be a lot ofpeople that try to put doubt in
your mind.
You know, want you to go acertain way.
Um, and want you to have thesame mindset as them.
(34:28):
But you gotta stick to who youare as a person, as an
individual.
And then you know, carve outyour own lane.
meaning You gotta like Really,really get focused on what you
got to do, even if it comes tolike writing down your goals,
writing down what you want to dobefore you get there, um, and
just make a plan.
(34:49):
Build relationships with peoplethat's going to, you know, be a
positive part of your life, nota negative part of your life.
So when you get to where you'regoing, them people that you was
building relationships with,they be there for you.
And, for me, like coming home.
You got a lot of people cominghome now, and they hear about
(35:11):
the experiences that I'm havingout here, and they like, you
know what, I done heard someguys tell me, like man, I heard
about what you was doing, howyou been doing this, how you
been doing that, and you thereason why I came out this way.
And, you know, I can't, I, mepersonally, I can't be in front
of the facility to come pickthem up, but my vehicle is a
(35:31):
form of transportation if youneed me to take you anywhere,
just, you know, gonna make sureyou're productive.
Member in the society or justhelping out in Kewanee because I
don't want us to be looked at asa problem in the community.
I want us to be looked at asactually helping solve things in
the community.
Omar (35:51):
Amen.
You know, uh, what do you callit, uh,
Fred (35:54):
asset to the community.
Yeah, of course.
Right.
Even if it's, you know, helping,you know, people with furniture
getting moved or, you know,posted, you know, fences around
farms.
You know,
Omar (36:13):
you know, uh, you know what I'm coming from Chicago.
I know you mentioned or and justmoving around.
Fred (36:17):
I got a whole thing.
I got the video.
I can't me and my friend, man.
The Mario rest in peace, man.
We two guys from Chicago on thefarm and we are here on the
farm.
You guys recorded it.
Where's that?
Is that YouTube or something?
No, no, no, no, no, no.
(36:38):
I ain't got no social media.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
That's one of my strong suits.
I can't home.
I didn't have no social media.
I ain't drink.
I ain't smoke.
So, I just wanted to keepeverything gotta be like
minimized so I could just stayfocused on what I had to stay
focused on as far as like, um,just my goals and preparations
as far as like living andstaying free, man.
(36:59):
I ain't want to get engulfed incertain things that come with
social media.
I don't want to be, um, a partof certain things, man.
Yeah, so I, I kept it, you know,PG, man.
Yeah, no, it's
Omar (37:13):
good, man.
You know what I mean?
That's how I stay humble.
Okay, no, yeah.
Well, what are some of thebenefits, being like a city guy,
what's some of the benefitsbeing out in the country?
Um, being a city
Fred (37:23):
guy?
You know, you, you thinkeverything is slow to you.
So you, like with me coming fromwhere we come from, I see things
unfold differently.
I could see things unfold beforesome people seeing my fold
(37:45):
because how slow the pace is.
But it's a good thing becauseI'm like, Oh, hold on.
Let me tear down this block, youknow, let me, uh, make a better
decision or whatever.
But, um, it's a lot ofadvantages, man, being out here,
(38:10):
just, but you gotta want, yougotta want to be a part of the
solution, man.
You know, you coming from, ifyou come from the inside,
especially from like the lightskill, um, and you want to like
really do something.
Um, positive, it's stuff outhere for you to do.
(38:30):
You can get caught up in, youknow, foolishness anywhere, even
in Kewanee, I'm sure there'splaces where you can go and be
like, you know, oh wow, this isweird.
But to me, being here is morepositive things than it is
negative things.
You know, if you gotta go lookfor the negative things, then,
(38:51):
you know, it lets you know abouthow much positive stuff going
on.
Yeah,
Omar (38:55):
I mean, that's good, huh?
I was like, you know, everywhereyou go, it's on the wrong wire,
it's coming up, got to knock on
Fred (2) (39:01):
your door.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, you,you one step, one step at a
time, yeah, you know, so.
Most time when he's coming out,I say, Freddy, you got to bring
your farm shoes, cause we'regoing to do something, you're
going to get dirty.
Yeah, yeah, you know that.
My farm shoes are Air Force 1.
That's what I was about
Chance (39:17):
to ask that, but, I got some, I got some old Air Force
1.
He's even come out, we've tookhim to side by side, went in the
pasture, and he's helped usround cows.
Up and you know, he, yeah.
Take him out on the boat andstuff with us.
And he, uh, you had swim?
Oh, yeah.
Until we went on the boat.
Yeah.
He was standing on the back ofthe boat.
(39:39):
You never swam before, likebefore that?
No, he had, but it'd been a longtime.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
My first
Fred (39:43):
half
Chance (39:43):
swimming was with him on the boat.
Oh yeah.
He's like, I'm gonna jump in.
And he jumps in and he just, hetakes off.
And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Don't go too far.
Yeah.
I was with no vest.
Just, yeah, no
Fred (39:53):
vest.
Yeah.
I, I jumped in, fish touchedhere or something.
Yeah, I didn't, I didn't want toget back in the water.
Well, why is that?
There was something in there?
Yeah, it felt like somethingtouched me.
Chance (40:02):
It was a storm that day.
Was it a Jason Voorhees, was it?
Yeah.
My wife and my kids and Freddy,we were all hooded.
There's gotta be a
Fred (40:10):
pink flamingo, bro.
No, it was a
Chance (40:12):
horse.
It was a unicorn.
A unicorn.
Floating.
We all hid in our It startedstorming when we was on the
river.
So we all held towels and stuffover our head and got under the
canopy and we just, we justchilled waiting for the storm to
pass.
So.
Omar (40:31):
Yeah.
I was just going to ask you, howpatient are you teaching people
the farm life, man?
I'm sure for somebody for thecity, it ain't easy, you know,
to transition, man.
So how, how is that for you to,I guess, so show somebody the
ropes as far as what to do outhere,
Chance (40:46):
man.
Well, Freddie just kind offollows the lead.
Yeah.
Um.
Freddie's really the only onethat's ever really come and
helped us.
Um, he's helped us work house.
He come out here and help himhelp to spill fence.
My, uh, my boss is out here andour Freddie walked over and
picked this big post up andstarted walking over and my
boss, he started pointing.
He's like, you know, he's
Omar (41:07):
like, yeah,
Chance (41:09):
he's,
Omar (41:10):
he's good help.
Oh, that's good.
Hey, what would you say?
Somebody that's going to watchthis and maybe they're having a,
they're, they're trying to getinvolved.
You know, what would you say?
Chance (41:24):
I'd say you gotta try it.
You won't know until you try itand I think it would probably
blow your mind what you see onceyou go in there.
You know, just they're justfriendly and I mean they want to
talk to you.
They want to know about you andthey'll tell you about them.
Um, I went on Christmas Eve thisyear and that's it.
(41:49):
This guy walked to me.
His name was Terrence, right?
He's got a gold tooth.
Um, I didn't know his name.
He told me, but there's so manypeople telling you names, you
can't, you can't remember him.
That's one thing that stuck outin my mind.
Um, he asked Michelle about mesometimes.
Um, he just walked up andstarted talking to me.
Uh, he's, he's a nice guy.
I've met some other guys inthere, um, through the Bible
(42:12):
study.
It's just, it's interesting justto listen to them like Michelle.
When we'd go in there, she, whenshe started the Bible study,
she'd say, what are you guysthankful for this week?
And you know what they'rethankful for and what we're
thankful for are two differentthings.
You know, they're just, they'rethankful that we come in there
(42:33):
and talk to them, you know, andhave a church service with them.
You know, they're just, they'rejust happy to be there.
And it's, it's
Fred (2) (42:42):
worth going.
Chance (42:43):
It's worth trying.
I'm glad we did it.
So like I said, I was, I wasspectacled when my wife first.
Yeah.
Decided to do this.
Yeah.
And then, then you've
Omar (42:52):
seen the
Chance (42:53):
And my wife, if she does something, she either does it
100 percent or she don't do itat all.
So I, after she went, I knew itwas going to be 100%.
Omar (43:02):
Oh, man, that's awesome.
You know what, man?
guys, man.
I'm glad I got to be a part ofthis, man.
I see the, the, the genuine, thegenuineness and the relationship
and the interaction, man.
And it's, it's, it's awesome tosee what, what's happening out
here, you know?
Uh, but, uh, man, any, any finalwords?
Before we close out, you know,maybe something we didn't get a
chance to talk about that youwant to highlight, you know, or,
(43:24):
or, or share, you know,
Fred (43:25):
I'm good, man.
I appreciate you taking yourtime coming out here and sharing
light on the good things that'shappening in the guy's lives is
coming home.
Because, you know, therecidivism rate, you know, it is
the other side of it, you know,a lot of people don't see it,
(43:47):
man.
And this guy is like a monster.
So guys like Ronnie, guys likePaul and Mike and Chico and you
know, a lot of, a lot of peoplethat's not even spoke on this
actually helping, you know,shout out to being, man, shout
out to being, man, being for himto him and big shout out for
(44:10):
him, man, for changing, helpingchange people's lives.
Omar (44:15):
How did he, uh, I know you give him a shout out, man, how
did he, uh, impact youpersonally?
Fred (44:19):
Um, well, Ben, Ben, um, he like, he like a quiet person,
man.
He, he one of them people thatyou don't even know in a, like
in a room until you, you speak,until you speak and then you're
like, wow, um, but I don't talkto him as often, um, but he
(44:41):
actually tried to, you know,sell me my first vehicle when I
came home and he, you know, hehave, he have.
He got an avenue to where heable to get cars and do whatever
he gotta do and he opened up thedoor for us to where, look, I'm
going to get you a vehicle, I'mgoing to put you in the vehicle.
I don't want nothing from you,but what I paid for it.
(45:05):
And you know, he not trying totake advantage of the guys
coming home, not putting guys inhousing.
He remodeling, like buyingproperties, having the guys
rebuild.
It's probably for us to live in,like, giving back in ways, man,
that's, you know, unimaginable,man.
(45:27):
So, big shout out to Ben, man.
Man,
Omar (45:30):
man, man.
Thank you for saying that.
People need to hear that, man.
I don't need to let you have acar
Fred (45:36):
when you're in your apartment.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, that too.
Yeah, that too.
Like, my, um, my, you know, mycar had went down and, um, my
brother, you know, he, he waslike, I, I, I, I, I, I get it
working, but we got to try toget you a vehicle until, you
know, and, and Paul and Ben,man, they, they come through for
(46:00):
me.
But he, he, one of the peoplethat's like quietly there for
us, even when you don't think,or you don't, you know, ain't
nobody there like being got yourback.
He just wants you to dosomething positive and
productive.
So it sounds like
Omar (46:14):
with him, his actions speak louder than words, man.
that's right.
Yeah.
That's what's
Fred (46:18):
more important, man.
Yeah.
I didn't go.
I didn't go without my vehicle.
Chance (46:22):
I was kind of the vehicle because otherwise I was
going to get up and go in andtake him to work in the morning.
Yeah.
That was going to be early.
Yeah.
Omar (46:30):
Uh, what about you, Chan?
Any final words to get ready toclose out?
And I know, I know youvolunteered to close down the
prayer afterwards too.
So,
Chance (46:37):
uh, one thing I wanted to say about Freddie, you can be
driving down the street and he'dsee somebody that's gotten out
and he'll whip his car out andpull in and jump out of the car
and be like, Hey man, he didn't.
You know, just you needanything, you know, here's my
phone number, you know, he,he's, he always calling the
guys, you know, check on them.
(46:58):
Sometimes they don't answer.
Sometimes they don't want help.
You know, you can only help youonce.
Um, but he's just, he'sdefinitely, uh, he does good for
people that are getting outbecause he can, he can resonate
with them better than, you know,we can, he knows what it was
like being in and what it's likebeing out, you know, um, He's
(47:20):
just doing good things.
And when he comes in church inthe morning, you just like
everybody that knows him, seeshim, you know, he's got a smile
and he comes up and shakes yourhand and gives a hug, you know,
uh, there's an older lady inchurch, uh, Becky, every Sunday,
she's got to come get Freddiehug.
She just,
Fred (47:39):
she
Chance (47:41):
just thinks the world of Freddie.
Everybody thinks the world ofFreddie.
I don't, he's my brother,
Omar (47:46):
but I just wanted to say that.
I don't know, thanks for sharingthat, uh, and I.
You know you said about, there'sanother side to the recidivism,
right, right, like the successstories, man.
Yeah, the recidivism,
Fred (47:56):
man.
The recidivism, right, man.
There's another side to it, youknow?
There's another side, this side.
Yeah.
The side of people staying out,the side of people giving back.
The side where, you know, yougot people like Chance Michelle
and all the people that'sinvesting their time into us to
help us stay home and to add topeople's lives and to create,
(48:18):
you know, different, uh, betterlives.
It's got a foundation for peoplethat's coming home and guys like
Ronnie who's open up, you know,carving lanes and doing things
that we don't even see that hedoing but yeah, man,
Omar (48:30):
I believe god is definitely on the move in the
prisons.
Uh there's a pastor.
He said there's uh what does hecall it?
There's a A nation behind bars,you know, like, uh, that, that,
uh, the guy's going to use, man,to, to, to turn the world
around, man.
It's just that
Fred (48:46):
we just gotta let everybody come home at a certain
time.
Omar (48:49):
Yeah, so now this is, I'm, I'm, man, like I said, I'm glad
I was able to be part of thisconversation.
It truly blessed me.
Chance, you want to close out ona prayer?
Chance (48:56):
I'll try.
Dear Jesus, thank you forbringing us together tonight.
Thank you for letting us do thispodcast, and thank you for
Ronnie and Omar and Freddie.
I just want to say to my wife,Kina, my kids, um, just help
people be more humble and, uh,be more open to going into the
prison system.
(49:16):
Uh, everybody deserves a secondchance in life, um, and just
help people bring that to them.
And, uh, it's going to stormlater tonight, so please watch
over everybody and helpeverybody be safe for that.
And, uh, just help us be morelike you, Jesus, in Jesus name,
amen.
Omar (49:33):
Amen, amen.
And with that, we're going toget ready to wrap up, uh,
Matthew 4, 16 reads, the peoplewho sat in darkness have seen a
great light and upon those whosat in the region and the shadow
of death, light has dawnedalongside my guests, Fred and
chance.
My name is Omar Calvillo and weare wrong too strong.
From the city of Chicago, a city most recently known for
its crime and violence.
On this podcast, we will besharing stories of redemption
from individuals raised in thetough streets of Chicago and
from around the country.
Some of them were gang members,drug dealers, incarcerated
victims, and perpetrators ofviolence.
(00:36):
Listen to my guests as theyshare their experiences,
struggles, trauma, but also thestrength, Hope, faith and
perseverance.
These have developed in them tokeep pushing and moving forward
in life.
Tune in to hear how their liveshave gone from darkness to light
and from wrong to strong.
Hello, everyone.
(00:57):
Welcome to to Strong Chicagopodcast.
I'm your host.
My name is Omar Calvillo.
Uh, and tonight, we're out herein, uh, Kewanee, Illinois.
Uh, we're out here, uh, uh,brother Chance is home.
He invited us, uh, to thank youfor your hospitality, brother,
for allowing us to come outhere.
Uh, so I drove out here with,uh, Ronnie Carrasquillo.
He wanted to, uh, bring me outhere.
to highlight some of thestories, uh, as far as prison
(01:18):
ministry goes, what thiscommunity in particular is doing
as far as a prison ministry.
So, a little earlier, Iinterviewed, uh, Chance's wife,
uh, Michelle.
So you know, I don't know if I'mgoing to release that interview
first or this one, you know,we'll see.
But eventually you're going tohear both, you know, and with us
also, we got my brother Fred.
I just met his brother out here.
So welcome to the podcast,brothers.
(01:41):
Thank you.
So I'm going to start with Fred,you know, cause you, you had
experience as far as theKewanee, you know, as far as the
prison system.
Uh, but, but before, as we getinto this part of it, you, you
want to tell us, uh, where didyou grow up at?
And, uh, tell us how, how waslife for you when you were
younger, maybe in thoseformative years that you can
remember?
Fred (02:01):
Well, I, I was actually, um, I'm not from Chicago, I was
born in New York.
Okay.
So me and my mother, we, um,took a Greyhound, we took a
Greyhound bus.
Probably when I was like twoyears old, came to Illinois.
You know, her and my father was,um, going through their own
little personal issues, so shefelt the need to leave the
(02:23):
situation.
and relocate.
Um, growing up, I stayed someeverywhere in Illinois.
I done lived in Hazel Crest.
I done lived in Harvey.
I done lived in Bloomington.
I done lived in like the northside, the west side, the south
side, you know.
(02:45):
So with that, you can imaginewhat it's like being the kid
going from school to school,school to school, school to
school.
So I never was like stationary,like as a child, you know, a lot
of kids nowadays have one stableschool and they go to that
school, that grammar school,then they graduate and they go
to a high school and then theygraduate from that high school.
(03:07):
I wasn't like that for me.
So with that, I had, uh, I don'twant to say problems, but I had
issues, you know, doing certainthings and, um,
Omar (03:19):
Well, when, when, when you look back now, obviously, you
know, we, we, we, we're lookingback.
How do you feel that affectedyou as you, as you got older?
Like that, that, that part of itaffected, it
Fred (03:28):
affected, it affected, it affected me in a lot of ways
because I never really had asolid foundation to like, you
know, stand on because I wasalways moving, you know, when
you want a child to be able tofully develop into the person
that they go grow up to being,you know, especially like with
(03:51):
just being productive.
but I was comfortable in societyby being stationary meaning a
school.
They're here to teach us thatinvest in them whole heartedly.
And they graduate from thatschool when they move on to
other schools and you know, itwas like that for me.
I'll get comfortable in onearea.
Then we got to move, you know,again, we got to move.
(04:17):
So it's like it was frustrating.
Yeah.
because Growing up, I wasn'table to catch on, like catch on
to certain things.
'cause I wasn't learning.
I was learning, but it was like,you take me from doing this in
this class and snatch me out.
Now you put me in the class.
So they already in the middle ofsomething else.
(04:37):
Yeah.
And that was like, you
Omar (04:40):
know, I was trying to pay like, uh, catch up.
Catch up, like wherever you go.
Exactly.
How, how do you feel thataffected you?
Like, like moving into yourteenage years, you know, like
those, what, what did you start,you know, how, how does life
look for you?
Fred (04:51):
It affected, it affected me.
A lot.
Um, in my teenage years, itfalls on my decision making
because my decision making wasall over the place.
You know, I got like when I gotincarcerated, I was 16.
I was a juvenile.
Um,
Omar (05:08):
I could ask you before you got a 16, any, any male role
models in your life in thistime, maybe trying to steer you
in a positive direction or didyou have somebody that
influenced you, whether in agood way or a bad way, I guess,
who, who played like a, like abig role as far as influence
during those teenage years?
Fred (05:24):
Um, the people that I would say had like somewhat of a
positive influence on me, um,they was, they, like, they
really weren't family.
It was like people that I met,like being in the neighborhood,
you know, like certain oldpeople that, you know, it was
like cool, but I had someteachers though like, I remember
(05:48):
one teacher, um, named Ms.
Oldman, like, that lady wasamazing, you know.
I, to this day, I still hearher, hear her name on my phone,
hope, like, a picture of her popup.
I was like, oh, that's her.
I could reach out to her.
Omar (06:04):
Um.
Is there something in particularthat she spoke over you, or
what, did she show you love orencouragement in a certain
Fred (06:11):
way?
Well, I was in, I was in, um, Iwas in, like, behavior
discipline.
Disorder class, you know, uh,BD, you know, I had a behavior
disorder, um, and she was likeone of the teachers in the class
and she came in that class likecompletely transparent, willing
to help all the kids that was inthe class and we had some of the
(06:36):
kids that was abusing it, like,you know, throwing desks at her
and stuff like that.
I was like her protector in asense because she was a good
person, like a genuine person.
And like, and here it is, yougot someone that's trying to
help you and, you know, reallylike invest who they are into
you and you just not, you know,taking it for granted.
(06:56):
So I always had a soft spot forpeople like that, even when I
was little, you know, so thatshould probably be the
Omar (07:04):
one that comes to mind.
All right.
Now you mentioned at 16 beingincarcerated, that, that, that
start like leading into a lot ofincarceration.
Or was it?
Fred (07:13):
No, man.
I was, um, how they say, jumpout.
I jumped off the porch, man.
I was like 12 years old.
Full, full, full throttle.
Growing up in Humboldt Park.
Um, you know, people that's fromthe area, they know how it is
growing up in the area.
(07:34):
From Augustine, um, Augustine,Francisco to California and
Augusta from North Avenue and,you know.
Chicago Avenue, just all overthe place.
And I grew up in a time wheregrowing up in them areas, it was
(07:56):
like you represented somethingfor me from different sides.
And my friends, we all just madedecisions, bad decisions,
actually bad decisions, poorchoices as kids to join street
gangs.
And um, in the process of doingthat, I made a decision.
(08:18):
When I was 16 that uh Cost me alarge part of my life How many
years did you end up doingtotally I was sentenced to 60
years at the age of 16 and I did28 straight years off that
(08:38):
sentence
Omar (08:41):
How recently ago did you get released December 23, okay,
man For years.
Fairly recent.
Yeah.
Two years.
Okay.
So you, you know what, we, wewe're gonna, I'm sure there's,
is there anything that standsout during your time, good or
bad?
Any, uh, memories you wannashare?
You know, before we doing mytime?
Yeah, during your time, likeduring all that?
(09:02):
Yeah.
Like anything.
Uh, oh man.
I'm sure there's plenty yourstories.
I know we you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Fred (09:09):
I grew up in the system pretty much.
Um, I came in 16 years old wentto Pontiac, you know, it was
called the Thunderdome.
So I was 17, 17 years old andPontiac Correctional Center at
the time it was a Thunderdome.
So I grew up in the system.
Um, you know, they had thepredator and prey mentality
(09:32):
with, you know, a lot of theguys was taking advantage,
trying to take advantage of theyoung guys.
And I went into the system withthe mindset where you're not
going to take advantage of me.
So I had a lot of, I had a lotof situations in there, but I
always was the aggressor.
And to be honest, like, youknow, in a moment I look back
(09:56):
like, man, some of the decisionsI made back then was, you know,
necessary because that's whatgot me to where I am today.
I had to survive.
I was like, he put in the.
situation around at the begrownfolks, and I, you know, I made
it through.
God kept me.
Omar (10:16):
Gotcha.
I know you mentioned God.
What, what does, uh, what roledoes God play in your life?
For you from younger or evenduring the prison time till,
till now?
Fred (10:25):
God always played a, um, part of my life, even when
people didn't, you know, fromthe outside looking in, didn't
know.
You know, I remember growing upas a kid, my mother dressing us
up, you know, taking us tochurch, putting Vaseline all
over my face.
I ain't like it, you know.
Um, but I remember going toservices with my mother.
(10:46):
It wasn't every Sunday, but she,she instilled God in me as a
child.
Um, and um, but I was in prison,to be honest.
A lot of the services that wewas, um, back then, we, we do
the lives and service for allthe wrong reasons.
You know, there was likemessage, message services, like
(11:09):
in the beginning of myincarceration, but I got older
and start actually like takingcertain things in my life
serious, like getting to knowGod and building my own personal
relationship with God.
Um, I learned that God is real.
Um, I had opportunities toattend classes where I met
(11:31):
brothers like Ronnie and, um,Paul and, and these like later
on in my years, like on theverge of coming home where I met
these guys.
And they didn't know how much ofan impact they was having in my
life just by hearing some of thethings they was going through,
how they was moving because Iwas always quiet and I stayed to
(11:52):
myself and we never really ranin the same circle.
But we surround each other.
Um, so God played a great rolein my life, man.
He's reason one.
Yeah.
Omar (12:06):
Amen.
Amen, brother.
Yeah.
Hey, man, you know what?
I want to get into that thatpart of you.
Don't worry.
We're out here in Kewanee.
God.
Okay.
Can you talk about yourexperience in Kewanee?
My experience in
Fred (12:17):
Kewanee.
I came home being in life skillreentry center.
Um, I was Well, I had a supportsystem, you know, my fiance,
soon to be my wife.
Um, she, she, uh, she washolding me down, man, tenfold.
(12:38):
Um, and you know, a lot ofpeople take for granted, you
know, a lot of the females thatbe in their lives when they're
in that type of situation.
Thinking that they, you know,just gonna have a red carpet
laid out for them.
She did what she could do, youknow, with their reason, you
know.
Oh, and I care.
Um, I was lucky enough to havemy, get my own place and I was,
(13:00):
uh, on the inside, I had a jobworking for the city.
So I used to leave out theinstitution every day and then
that's how I was able to leaveand I stacked up a nice, a nice
amount of money, man.
That she didn't know about, myfiance didn't know about.
I can tell her, you know what Imean, you know what I mean?
But, uh, but, uh, that gave me agood head start.
(13:25):
man.
And it was, you know, thanks toWarden Carruthers, to be honest.
Thanks to Warden Carruthers andWarden Jones for signing the
paperwork allowing me toactually come within their
facility.
You know, after observing me andseeing the type of person I was,
they gave me a shot to actuallywork for the city and put me in
(13:45):
a position where I was able tolike, you know, relearn myself
and see the streets, you know,in a different way and actually
be a You know, for a certainamount of hours, I had to go
back, but it was life changing.
Omar (14:00):
How much time did you have left when they allowed you to
start doing that, to leave andcome back?
Fred (14:05):
Well, I had like, when I got to the re entry center, I
was at the end of myincarceration.
My original out date was 2025,like March 16th.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, um, a couple of days fromnow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A couple of days, right?
(14:25):
And, but, uh, through the graceof God, man, uh, I mean, I was
in East Moline, taking it back alittle bit.
And, uh, by me staying out oftrouble for the amount of time I
had to stay out of trouble, thedirector, um, gave me 19 months
at one time, good time back.
(14:46):
That's a
Omar (14:46):
lot.
Fred (14:47):
Gave me 19 months.
So, uh, put me in a positionwhere I could actually go to
Kewaunee.
And I put in for it.
They allowed me to go after, youknow, observing me or whatever.
And once I got there, I just,you know, kept my head down,
worked out, you know, stuck tomyself, went to school, did what
I had to do.
When the opportunity came for meto get a job on the outside, I
(15:08):
got it, saved me some money.
They put me in a position whereI got housing.
When I came home, you know, Imet, I met a lot of people in
the community, man.
Um, it first started with Lance,Lance and Steve Franklin.
They was at my house, man, butthere was nothing in there.
(15:30):
Um, I had a blower mattress andthe clothes my fiancee got me
and it was like, man, hey, wehere, you know, and they took me
to, they took me to theparsonage this man and, and
actually looked out for me.
Um, Some of the stuff that theygave me, I still have,
Omar (15:51):
you know what I mean?
What are some of the things thatthey helped you out with?
Fred (15:57):
Uh, man, they had a house, man, they had a house full of
everything, like, ready to getthat, take that, get that, get
that, you know, get them cups,get them plates, get them
spoons, stuff that you thinkthat you really ain't, you know,
gonna need too much, but youlike, hold on, all the small
things, you know what I mean?
(16:18):
Um, coffee pots and beds and,you know, box springs,
Omar (16:24):
man,
Fred (16:26):
you know, so, um, they gave, they gave me a head start.
So with that help and the littlemoney I accumulated coming home
helped me for the, you know,time being that I land me a job
working out here and, um, aGreat Dane.
(16:49):
And then like, and to be honest,man, that like, it really,
really helped me because I wasable to provide for myself, you
know, pay my rent, pay my, youknow, like bills and my, you
know, because those things youthink about when you went
outside, because I mean on theinside, because when I was in
there, when I left the streetsin the beginning, I was 16 years
old.
My mama paid all my bills.
That's why you had noexperience.
(17:11):
You know, I want to pay mybills, paid the bills, you know,
I probably was, you know, doingother stuff in the streets or
whatever, but So, I got helpfrom people that's been out here
(17:36):
in the community, and theyembraced me,
Omar (17:38):
man.
Hey man, you know what?
We're gonna talk about one ofthose persons right now.
Uh, Chance, you wanna tell us,how did you get involved in uh,
in prison ministry, you know?
Chance (17:48):
Uh, I got I got involved because of my wife, she started
going and I kind of just gotcurious and wanted to go, I
guess, see what it was about.
I mean, you think about the reentry prison, well let me back
this up, when you think aboutprison, you think about like
what you see on TV, you know,nothing good.
(18:09):
Um, so I wanted to go out thereand see it and when I first
walked in there, I think I metPaul, he gave me a bottle of
water, and then I met Ronnie,um.
And I met a couple other guys inthere and I liked it.
Um, I've gone back a couple oftimes.
I went to Bible study with mywife a few times.
Um, I'm actually in the processof trying to get the paperwork
(18:30):
done so I can get a badge.
So I can go whenever I want togo.
Uh, that's what my wife hasbecause with my job, it's hard,
it's hard for me to call chapand say, Hey, I want to go
tonight.
And I could possibly maybe notmake it, you know, um, I went
and did, uh, some Bible studydown in Peoria.
At the, the work facility downthere, um, it definitely changes
(18:54):
your perspective on people likeit makes you more open to see
people for who they are, not forwhat they've done.
Um, it's a, it's a good thing.
They're doing good things out
Omar (19:09):
there.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Like it changes the perspective,right?
I guess.
No, no.
Before going, like, um, youknow, I know you mentioned
sometimes your job, but whatexactly do you do out here and
all?
What, how, how, how does lifelook for you?
Chance (19:21):
Uh, I, I work for a farmer and me and my wife have
some cattle of our own.
Um, life out here consists offeeding cattle and, and going to
work and.
Hanging out with my wife and mykids and, you know, just, just
doing the, the farm life.
Some days they're long, but youget to look out the window all
(19:46):
day and see everything Godcreated.
Omar (19:48):
Yeah.
Chance (19:48):
So,
Omar (19:49):
I know we came on a good day.
You were spreading on manure outthere, right?
Fertilizing the ground.
God created that too, right?
Yup.
Yup.
You gotta help the crop grow.
But, you know, it's crazy how,how everything serves a purpose,
man, even like that.
You know, it fertilizes well,you know, like, so it's just
amazing now, um, you know, likeI could ask you like, like, um,
(20:09):
growing up, family, friends, didyou ever, anybody close to you
ever experience, you know, theprison system?
Well, I guess what's your, yourpersonal experience prior to
serving in prison ministry?
With anybody, I guess, you know,And on that side, as far as like
Chance (20:25):
I had a, had a aunt that served, went to prison for a
while.
Um, I never got to see her.
I was kind of young when thathappened.
Um, I got in my fair share oftrouble when I was a kid.
I spent a couple nights in jail,uh, for doing dumb things that
I, I shouldn't have been doing.
Uh, after doing that a coupletimes, I realized that ain't
(20:49):
where I wanted to be.
Um, I I met my wife and sheprobably, she probably
straightened me out.
I mean, we were a little wild onour own, but you know, she kept
me from doing things I shouldn'tbe doing.
Um, so yeah, I guess, and I hada, a good friend, he was kind of
(21:10):
in and out of jail a lot, hewent to prison a couple of times
and got out and he didn't goback and he didn't get out and
he didn't go back.
Um, so I guess, yeah.
Yeah.
Omar (21:22):
Yeah.
Like seeing that.
Yeah.
Okay.
Got it.
Now, um, now, now, now going uh,to, to, to Kewanee you wanna
talk about your experience?
I, I, I know now, right now wewere here with, uh, Fred.
Like, what, what are some ofthese connections that I, I
guess not only in there, buteven to have people to your
home.
Could, could you take us throughthat, uh, transition, you know,
like meeting these guys in thereand then I guess after, um, me,
(21:46):
uh, meeting them, seeing howthey are like actually opening
up your home.
'cause it's one thing to govisit somebody in prison.
And it's another, I think it's ahuge thing to open up your
doors.
You know, you could, tell us, Iguess the mindset or what, what
got you to, to this, I
Chance (21:59):
guess.
Um, I would say in thebeginning, I wasn't real sure,
like we kind of thought we'dkeep it, you know, just a
prison, you know, see the guyswhen I got out, um, we weren't
really sure about our home justcause of our kids.
And, you know, um, my, my, my.
(22:20):
My buddy here, Freddy, like mywife said, she, uh, asked him to
go to church and I didn't knowwho this guy was.
We pulled up, he come walkingout and I was like, I know
Omar (22:31):
people can't see because he's sitting down, but he's a
pretty, how, how, how, how, howtall are you brother?
I'm 5'11 5'11 but he's pretty,pretty stocky, right?
Yeah.
He come walking out the door
Chance (22:40):
and I was like, he got in the car and shook my hand and
we went to church and I don'tknow, he's, he's my brother, I,
I love him.
Hey.
He's a, he's a, he's a gooddude,
Omar (22:53):
man.
Am I?
I'm, I'm, I'm proud of him.
Yeah.
What are some of the thingsyou've seen personally, like
from him, you know, like what,what do you see in him now?
Chance (23:01):
Like, I guess he's, he's just straight.
He goes to work every day.
He, he goes to church with usevery Sunday, sit right beside
each other.
Um, he's always helping in thecommunity.
He was actually at a churchearlier tonight, helping out,
um, what was that for?
Um, they,
Fred (23:18):
they raise, raise money for kids.
Go to camp.
Nice.
Yeah, so I was helping them, uh,organize some stuff that I, I
ain't gonna lie, I be doing alot of stuff that, what they
say?
Unsung heroes.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I be doing a lot of stuff.
I don't really be, you know.
Omar (23:37):
Gotcha.
Like, you, you the one, uh, Idon't be boasting about.
No.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but hey, we,we need to know, man.
'cause uh, uh, I mean, you know,the people need to know too.
'cause uh, oh.
Uh, because the, the reason Isay that is'cause you know,
like.
A lot of people think, man,these guys that you, you did
almost, man, almost 30 years,you know, like you think
somebody's going to come out andjust be hardened, but, you know,
just by you sharing that storyof that teacher and you doing
(24:00):
this thing with the kids, Iguess, uh, what, what helped you
keep, I guess that, um, thatI'll say that you have to be,
you have a tender heart, man,like a loving, caring heart in
order to do some of the thingsthat you're doing.
So, uh, what, what allowed younot to get like hardened
completely?
You know, to be able to do whatyou're doing now as far as
serving in the community,serving in church?
(24:21):
Um, well,
Fred (24:23):
to be honest, um, me wanting to like, get back, play
a part in me just takingsomeone's life, man.
You, um, I took some, I tooksomething from the world, from
family, you know, and you know,I, you know, I know I can't.
(24:48):
Bring that person back, but if Icould help somebody That's
that's I just feel that's theneed for me to do.
This is something I found myheart to do Genuinely is
catching kids selling lemonade.
I'll pull over Bought some moneyhere No, y'all get y'all money
(25:10):
You know, I'm just giving backman Hey, man, that's I took away
I took away I took away I tookaway.
So now it's time for Get back,you know, some people see the
outside and then they get toknow me like, man, he's a good
dude.
Omar (25:26):
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, yeah, they can't be quickto, to judge a book by its
cover.
You know,
Fred (25:33):
people, a lot of people, you know, they be quick to
judge.
You know, they sit and talk.
They were like, well, I took himfor something else.
No, right, right.
You know, you know, That's why Ilove, that's why I love Chance
Michelle.
much because they actually gave,they actually like, not only
opened their house to me, butthey actually gave me the
(25:55):
opportunity to like, meet theirkids, man.
You know, their kids, you know,I love their kids, you know.
Um, I can come here anytime Iwant.
The door's always open.
You know, uh, and there's juststuff like that, man.
(26:15):
They see what I do.
Yeah, yeah.
You know.
I don't drink, I don't smoke, Idon't do nothing man, I just try
to keep positive, you know,work, go to church, you
Omar (26:27):
know.
You know, I interviewed two guysfrom Louisiana, they were both
in Angola, both of them werelifers, they weren't supposed to
get out.
One of them got out through achange in the law and the other
one got out cause the, I thinkthe sheriff or whoever it was,
somebody went and vouched forhim.
(26:47):
In front of the court, but he,he, he now tries to help guys
get out and as I was doinginterview with him, he said one
thing, he's like, man, like Idon't go to speak for everybody
like to get out.
He's like, man, there's someguys that shouldn't be getting
out.
So he says, he asked himselfthis question before he vouches
for somebody, he's like, can Itrust them to be my next door
(27:09):
neighbor?
You know?
Can I trust them to say, Heyman, I'm going to be out of
town.
Can you keep an eye on my wifeand my kids?
You know, that's, that's, that'smy, uh,
Fred (27:19):
it's funny.
You
Omar (27:20):
say, go, go ahead.
Yeah,
Fred (27:21):
we was at, uh, uh, we was at, uh, we was at, uh, we was
at, uh, in Princeton.
Chance (27:28):
Oh, at, uh, uh,
Fred (27:30):
county fair.
Oh yeah.
We was at the county fair.
Uh, we, I was at the, we had thecattle show, you know, I came
through, you know, showing offthe cattle and everything.
And Tyson come pick you up.
Yeah, Tyson came and got me.
And um, they had, you know,little amusement, little
amusement, little amusement parkrides, you know, roller, little
(27:50):
roller coasters and stuff likethat.
So, Lilly, their daughter, andTyson, their son, uh, Lilly was
like, Come on, Freddie, come on.
Every time I come around, she'slike, if it's something, with
some activity going on, she tryto pull me by the arm.
Come on, come on, come on.
So, they like, alright, y'allget to go with Freddie.
(28:11):
You know, and it's stuff likethat.
You know, he trusts me enough toknow that I won't let nothing
happen to his daughter.
You know, or his son, you know.
And he said it out loud, like,she's safe with Freddy.
Nobody gonna mess with her.
He, cause he know it's true.
Ain't nobody gonna mess withher.
Chance (28:28):
I told Billy, I said, uh, Your first boyfriend don't
have a deal with me.
He's got a deal with Freddy.
Billy just looks at me, I said,I'm serious.
Freddy says it's okay then.
Um, that's That's so bad.
Now, Freddy, Freddy's like abrother.
I sometimes, we don't talk everyday, but we normally talk a
(28:48):
couple times a week.
Okay, gotcha.
You know, sometimes we get busy,he gets busy, it just, you know,
but I've always told him, youknow, if he's having trouble
calling me, it's same for me.
I mean, it's nice to havesomebody to rely on, you know,
and me and Freddy can bestraight with each other, no
judgment, you know?
And that's what you need.
So.
Gotcha.
Omar (29:08):
And any, um, anything?
Anything that we didn't touch onthat you guys wanna talk about,
you know what I'm saying?
Like, anything that I'm missingthat's important, I guess, to
highlight, maybe the community?
I feel like,
Fred (29:18):
y'all, I feel like just having this, um, this
conversation, just being, youknow, coming, you taking the
trip to actually get to know usand hear some of the stories
from the guys that's out here,that's, that's great, man,
because, you know, like Ronnie,Ronnie spoke on with being in
(29:39):
Chicago, it's such a largeplatform, you know, get cloudy,
you don't be able to seeeverybody.
So this town, they don't evenreally understand the magnitude
of like civility that, you know,there's been show hospitality
that's been show to the guyscoming, you know, to this
(30:01):
community from that situationand you taking a trip and
sharing some light on it, man,that bad.
Is a blessing, man.
Oh yeah, for sure.
Man.
You know, everyday walkingWalmart, man.
When they see you, you know, webump into, you know, staff from
the facility and they see us andfrom there to, and then they
(30:24):
like, wow, you guys, you doinggreat.
Yeah.
Fred (2) (30:27):
Yeah.
Well, you met one, that's kindof fair.
Oh, yeah.
Oh yeah.
I don't wanna talk about her
Fred (30:31):
though.
I don't wanna give her, I don'twanna give her no shine.
No, no, no.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
Sometimes you gotta let peoplestay there and then she, that
person.
I just wanted to
Omar (30:42):
let her judge and stay in that place.
No, right, right.
No, but you know that's awesome,man, to hear that.
You know, whether, you know,good or bad, whether
interaction, but for you to beable to be on the other side of
the fence now, you know what I'msaying, is real.
You know, I never had thatexperience because obviously,
you know, I was downstatemyself, but going to Chicago, I
(31:05):
never had a chance to.
So that's got to be you, youunique, right?
I mean.
Of course.
Of
Fred (31:10):
course.
Of course.
Um, when you, when you, uh, whenyou go and you be looking for
some eggs and you see Sarge andblah blah blah and you like,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,you know it.
You know, back in the day,people be like, yeah, I might be
the person that you see in thegrocery store.
Now, it's for
Omar (31:26):
real.
Yeah,
Fred (31:27):
you
Fred (2) (31:28):
know,
Fred (31:29):
man.
But, um, coming from thatfacility, man, and a lot of the
There.
I don't even lie to you, man.
The majority of the staff therewas respectful.
They treated us like humans.
Um, you know, you gotta let theyeses be your, the yeses and the
nos be the nos.
(31:50):
You know, you can't let you knowthe situation.
Some people try to takeadvantage of the situation
because you have someone that'scarrying hard and genuinely want
to just treat you like a humanbeing and they take you for
granted.
Um, yeah, but for the most part,for.
As far as myself, um, myexperience being in Life Skills,
(32:13):
man, was educational.
I learned a lot about myselfbeing there.
Um, I met my fiancée when I wasthere.
Um, I met Ronnie while I wasthere.
I met Paul while I was there.
I met Mike while I was there.
I met Bobby while I was there.
(32:34):
You know, happy.
Um, my baby brother.
Um, Big Sam, you know, it's alot of guys, uh, that's come
from that situation.
It's a part of this communitythat's actually adding to the
(32:57):
community and actually helping.
And, you know, it's good to seeguys flourish.
Especially, you know, we allnot, we not perfect, you know,
there's going to be some hurdlesin the road, but when you got
people like Chance the Machine.
GL is there to support you.
Omar (33:17):
Right?
It's dope.
Amen.
One of my goals and my prayersis to one day get these podcasts
behind bars, you know, becausethe guys got tablets in there
nowadays, you know, they'll beable to access Yeah.
So we'll put a little somethingmore positive in there.
Big, big, big huge, you know,but um, I guess one of the
(33:38):
questions, what would you say tosomebody that's in there?
Well, what's the importanceabout surrounding?
I know you mentioned a lot ofthese great guys that you met in
there that helped you get onthis.
What are some things they coulddo to prepare?
Because unfortunately, a lot ofguys only prepare to come out
when they're short.
Whether it's like six months, Idon't know when that that
program starts, but what couldthey do to begin to prepare and
(34:00):
the importance of surroundingyourself with some guys that are
actually trying to do somethinggood or steer you in the right
direction, you know?
Fred (34:07):
You know, uh, first of all, you know, you gotta be
prepared to shake off thenaysayers.
Cause, there's gonna be a lot ofpeople that try to put doubt in
your mind.
You know, want you to go acertain way.
Um, and want you to have thesame mindset as them.
(34:28):
But you gotta stick to who youare as a person, as an
individual.
And then you know, carve outyour own lane.
meaning You gotta like Really,really get focused on what you
got to do, even if it comes tolike writing down your goals,
writing down what you want to dobefore you get there, um, and
just make a plan.
(34:49):
Build relationships with peoplethat's going to, you know, be a
positive part of your life, nota negative part of your life.
So when you get to where you'regoing, them people that you was
building relationships with,they be there for you.
And, for me, like coming home.
You got a lot of people cominghome now, and they hear about
(35:11):
the experiences that I'm havingout here, and they like, you
know what, I done heard someguys tell me, like man, I heard
about what you was doing, howyou been doing this, how you
been doing that, and you thereason why I came out this way.
And, you know, I can't, I, mepersonally, I can't be in front
of the facility to come pickthem up, but my vehicle is a
(35:31):
form of transportation if youneed me to take you anywhere,
just, you know, gonna make sureyou're productive.
Member in the society or justhelping out in Kewanee because I
don't want us to be looked at asa problem in the community.
I want us to be looked at asactually helping solve things in
the community.
Omar (35:51):
Amen.
You know, uh, what do you callit, uh,
Fred (35:54):
asset to the community.
Yeah, of course.
Right.
Even if it's, you know, helping,you know, people with furniture
getting moved or, you know,posted, you know, fences around
farms.
You know,
Omar (36:13):
you know, uh, you know what I'm coming from Chicago.
I know you mentioned or and justmoving around.
Fred (36:17):
I got a whole thing.
I got the video.
I can't me and my friend, man.
The Mario rest in peace, man.
We two guys from Chicago on thefarm and we are here on the
farm.
You guys recorded it.
Where's that?
Is that YouTube or something?
No, no, no, no, no, no.
(36:38):
I ain't got no social media.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
That's one of my strong suits.
I can't home.
I didn't have no social media.
I ain't drink.
I ain't smoke.
So, I just wanted to keepeverything gotta be like
minimized so I could just stayfocused on what I had to stay
focused on as far as like, um,just my goals and preparations
as far as like living andstaying free, man.
(36:59):
I ain't want to get engulfed incertain things that come with
social media.
I don't want to be, um, a partof certain things, man.
Yeah, so I, I kept it, you know,PG, man.
Yeah, no, it's
Omar (37:13):
good, man.
You know what I mean?
That's how I stay humble.
Okay, no, yeah.
Well, what are some of thebenefits, being like a city guy,
what's some of the benefitsbeing out in the country?
Um, being a city
Fred (37:23):
guy?
You know, you, you thinkeverything is slow to you.
So you, like with me coming fromwhere we come from, I see things
unfold differently.
I could see things unfold beforesome people seeing my fold
(37:45):
because how slow the pace is.
But it's a good thing becauseI'm like, Oh, hold on.
Let me tear down this block, youknow, let me, uh, make a better
decision or whatever.
But, um, it's a lot ofadvantages, man, being out here,
(38:10):
just, but you gotta want, yougotta want to be a part of the
solution, man.
You know, you coming from, ifyou come from the inside,
especially from like the lightskill, um, and you want to like
really do something.
Um, positive, it's stuff outhere for you to do.
(38:30):
You can get caught up in, youknow, foolishness anywhere, even
in Kewanee, I'm sure there'splaces where you can go and be
like, you know, oh wow, this isweird.
But to me, being here is morepositive things than it is
negative things.
You know, if you gotta go lookfor the negative things, then,
(38:51):
you know, it lets you know abouthow much positive stuff going
on.
Yeah,
Omar (38:55):
I mean, that's good, huh?
I was like, you know, everywhereyou go, it's on the wrong wire,
it's coming up, got to knock on
Fred (2) (39:01):
your door.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, you,you one step, one step at a
time, yeah, you know, so.
Most time when he's coming out,I say, Freddy, you got to bring
your farm shoes, cause we'regoing to do something, you're
going to get dirty.
Yeah, yeah, you know that.
My farm shoes are Air Force 1.
That's what I was about
Chance (39:17):
to ask that, but, I got some, I got some old Air Force
1.
He's even come out, we've tookhim to side by side, went in the
pasture, and he's helped usround cows.
Up and you know, he, yeah.
Take him out on the boat andstuff with us.
And he, uh, you had swim?
Oh, yeah.
Until we went on the boat.
Yeah.
He was standing on the back ofthe boat.
(39:39):
You never swam before, likebefore that?
No, he had, but it'd been a longtime.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
My first
Fred (39:43):
half
Chance (39:43):
swimming was with him on the boat.
Oh yeah.
He's like, I'm gonna jump in.
And he jumps in and he just, hetakes off.
And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Don't go too far.
Yeah.
I was with no vest.
Just, yeah, no
Fred (39:53):
vest.
Yeah.
I, I jumped in, fish touchedhere or something.
Yeah, I didn't, I didn't want toget back in the water.
Well, why is that?
There was something in there?
Yeah, it felt like somethingtouched me.
Chance (40:02):
It was a storm that day.
Was it a Jason Voorhees, was it?
Yeah.
My wife and my kids and Freddy,we were all hooded.
There's gotta be a
Fred (40:10):
pink flamingo, bro.
No, it was a
Chance (40:12):
horse.
It was a unicorn.
A unicorn.
Floating.
We all hid in our It startedstorming when we was on the
river.
So we all held towels and stuffover our head and got under the
canopy and we just, we justchilled waiting for the storm to
pass.
So.
Omar (40:31):
Yeah.
I was just going to ask you, howpatient are you teaching people
the farm life, man?
I'm sure for somebody for thecity, it ain't easy, you know,
to transition, man.
So how, how is that for you to,I guess, so show somebody the
ropes as far as what to do outhere,
Chance (40:46):
man.
Well, Freddie just kind offollows the lead.
Yeah.
Um.
Freddie's really the only onethat's ever really come and
helped us.
Um, he's helped us work house.
He come out here and help himhelp to spill fence.
My, uh, my boss is out here andour Freddie walked over and
picked this big post up andstarted walking over and my
boss, he started pointing.
He's like, you know, he's
Omar (41:07):
like, yeah,
Chance (41:09):
he's,
Omar (41:10):
he's good help.
Oh, that's good.
Hey, what would you say?
Somebody that's going to watchthis and maybe they're having a,
they're, they're trying to getinvolved.
You know, what would you say?
Chance (41:24):
I'd say you gotta try it.
You won't know until you try itand I think it would probably
blow your mind what you see onceyou go in there.
You know, just they're justfriendly and I mean they want to
talk to you.
They want to know about you andthey'll tell you about them.
Um, I went on Christmas Eve thisyear and that's it.
(41:49):
This guy walked to me.
His name was Terrence, right?
He's got a gold tooth.
Um, I didn't know his name.
He told me, but there's so manypeople telling you names, you
can't, you can't remember him.
That's one thing that stuck outin my mind.
Um, he asked Michelle about mesometimes.
Um, he just walked up andstarted talking to me.
Uh, he's, he's a nice guy.
I've met some other guys inthere, um, through the Bible
(42:12):
study.
It's just, it's interesting justto listen to them like Michelle.
When we'd go in there, she, whenshe started the Bible study,
she'd say, what are you guysthankful for this week?
And you know what they'rethankful for and what we're
thankful for are two differentthings.
You know, they're just, they'rethankful that we come in there
(42:33):
and talk to them, you know, andhave a church service with them.
You know, they're just, they'rejust happy to be there.
And it's, it's
Fred (2) (42:42):
worth going.
Chance (42:43):
It's worth trying.
I'm glad we did it.
So like I said, I was, I wasspectacled when my wife first.
Yeah.
Decided to do this.
Yeah.
And then, then you've
Omar (42:52):
seen the
Chance (42:53):
And my wife, if she does something, she either does it
100 percent or she don't do itat all.
So I, after she went, I knew itwas going to be 100%.
Omar (43:02):
Oh, man, that's awesome.
You know what, man?
guys, man.
I'm glad I got to be a part ofthis, man.
I see the, the, the genuine, thegenuineness and the relationship
and the interaction, man.
And it's, it's, it's awesome tosee what, what's happening out
here, you know?
Uh, but, uh, man, any, any finalwords?
Before we close out, you know,maybe something we didn't get a
chance to talk about that youwant to highlight, you know, or,
(43:24):
or, or share, you know,
Fred (43:25):
I'm good, man.
I appreciate you taking yourtime coming out here and sharing
light on the good things that'shappening in the guy's lives is
coming home.
Because, you know, therecidivism rate, you know, it is
the other side of it, you know,a lot of people don't see it,
(43:47):
man.
And this guy is like a monster.
So guys like Ronnie, guys likePaul and Mike and Chico and you
know, a lot of, a lot of peoplethat's not even spoke on this
actually helping, you know,shout out to being, man, shout
out to being, man, being for himto him and big shout out for
(44:10):
him, man, for changing, helpingchange people's lives.
Omar (44:15):
How did he, uh, I know you give him a shout out, man, how
did he, uh, impact youpersonally?
Fred (44:19):
Um, well, Ben, Ben, um, he like, he like a quiet person,
man.
He, he one of them people thatyou don't even know in a, like
in a room until you, you speak,until you speak and then you're
like, wow, um, but I don't talkto him as often, um, but he
(44:41):
actually tried to, you know,sell me my first vehicle when I
came home and he, you know, hehave, he have.
He got an avenue to where heable to get cars and do whatever
he gotta do and he opened up thedoor for us to where, look, I'm
going to get you a vehicle, I'mgoing to put you in the vehicle.
I don't want nothing from you,but what I paid for it.
(45:05):
And you know, he not trying totake advantage of the guys
coming home, not putting guys inhousing.
He remodeling, like buyingproperties, having the guys
rebuild.
It's probably for us to live in,like, giving back in ways, man,
that's, you know, unimaginable,man.
(45:27):
So, big shout out to Ben, man.
Man,
Omar (45:30):
man, man.
Thank you for saying that.
People need to hear that, man.
I don't need to let you have acar
Fred (45:36):
when you're in your apartment.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, that too.
Yeah, that too.
Like, my, um, my, you know, mycar had went down and, um, my
brother, you know, he, he waslike, I, I, I, I, I, I get it
working, but we got to try toget you a vehicle until, you
know, and, and Paul and Ben,man, they, they come through for
(46:00):
me.
But he, he, one of the peoplethat's like quietly there for
us, even when you don't think,or you don't, you know, ain't
nobody there like being got yourback.
He just wants you to dosomething positive and
productive.
So it sounds like
Omar (46:14):
with him, his actions speak louder than words, man.
that's right.
Yeah.
That's what's
Fred (46:18):
more important, man.
Yeah.
I didn't go.
I didn't go without my vehicle.
Chance (46:22):
I was kind of the vehicle because otherwise I was
going to get up and go in andtake him to work in the morning.
Yeah.
That was going to be early.
Yeah.
Omar (46:30):
Uh, what about you, Chan?
Any final words to get ready toclose out?
And I know, I know youvolunteered to close down the
prayer afterwards too.
So,
Chance (46:37):
uh, one thing I wanted to say about Freddie, you can be
driving down the street and he'dsee somebody that's gotten out
and he'll whip his car out andpull in and jump out of the car
and be like, Hey man, he didn't.
You know, just you needanything, you know, here's my
phone number, you know, he,he's, he always calling the
guys, you know, check on them.
(46:58):
Sometimes they don't answer.
Sometimes they don't want help.
You know, you can only help youonce.
Um, but he's just, he'sdefinitely, uh, he does good for
people that are getting outbecause he can, he can resonate
with them better than, you know,we can, he knows what it was
like being in and what it's likebeing out, you know, um, He's
(47:20):
just doing good things.
And when he comes in church inthe morning, you just like
everybody that knows him, seeshim, you know, he's got a smile
and he comes up and shakes yourhand and gives a hug, you know,
uh, there's an older lady inchurch, uh, Becky, every Sunday,
she's got to come get Freddiehug.
She just,
Fred (47:39):
she
Chance (47:41):
just thinks the world of Freddie.
Everybody thinks the world ofFreddie.
I don't, he's my brother,
Omar (47:46):
but I just wanted to say that.
I don't know, thanks for sharingthat, uh, and I.
You know you said about, there'sanother side to the recidivism,
right, right, like the successstories, man.
Yeah, the recidivism,
Fred (47:56):
man.
The recidivism, right, man.
There's another side to it, youknow?
There's another side, this side.
Yeah.
The side of people staying out,the side of people giving back.
The side where, you know, yougot people like Chance Michelle
and all the people that'sinvesting their time into us to
help us stay home and to add topeople's lives and to create,
(48:18):
you know, different, uh, betterlives.
It's got a foundation for peoplethat's coming home and guys like
Ronnie who's open up, you know,carving lanes and doing things
that we don't even see that hedoing but yeah, man,
Omar (48:30):
I believe god is definitely on the move in the
prisons.
Uh there's a pastor.
He said there's uh what does hecall it?
There's a A nation behind bars,you know, like, uh, that, that,
uh, the guy's going to use, man,to, to, to turn the world
around, man.
It's just that
Fred (48:46):
we just gotta let everybody come home at a certain
time.
Omar (48:49):
Yeah, so now this is, I'm, I'm, man, like I said, I'm glad
I was able to be part of thisconversation.
It truly blessed me.
Chance, you want to close out ona prayer?
Chance (48:56):
I'll try.
Dear Jesus, thank you forbringing us together tonight.
Thank you for letting us do thispodcast, and thank you for
Ronnie and Omar and Freddie.
I just want to say to my wife,Kina, my kids, um, just help
people be more humble and, uh,be more open to going into the
prison system.
(49:16):
Uh, everybody deserves a secondchance in life, um, and just
help people bring that to them.
And, uh, it's going to stormlater tonight, so please watch
over everybody and helpeverybody be safe for that.
And, uh, just help us be morelike you, Jesus, in Jesus name,
amen.
Omar (49:33):
Amen, amen.
And with that, we're going toget ready to wrap up, uh,
Matthew 4, 16 reads, the peoplewho sat in darkness have seen a
great light and upon those whosat in the region and the shadow
of death, light has dawnedalongside my guests, Fred and
chance.
My name is Omar Calvillo and weare wrong too strong.
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