Jacqui’s story left me literally speechless. Not a great look on an interviewer, but I think she understood. 

Jacqui stepped a long way out of her comfort zone, described to me how it felt in vivid word pictures, and it was to aid a fantastic cause!  

Catherine Hoke has created a program where she utilises the entrepreneurial talents most criminals innately have to create a ‘legal hustle’ to enable the prisoners to better themselves and also for the greater good. And this program in some of the prisons has been so exceptional that they have a 98% non recidivism rate. 

Jacqui attended a retreat where she heard Catherine speak passionately about her program, and it made her realise that she was not following her own passion and purpose. As part of Jacqui’s journey (and she may have to come back to talk about quitting her job!) she put her hand up to be a part of Catherine’s program. ‘And so part of my journey was to actually say to her, and this was already getting outside of my comfort zone to put my hand up and say ‘I want to come to prison as a volunteer and do the prison program’. So that was the first step. And then second step was to actually follow through with that and book the trip (it was in California), and say ‘I’m going to prison to do this volunteer prison program.’ So I did.’ 

I asked Jacqui what this actually involved, and after explaining to me that ‘it was an experience of a lifetime. It’s nothing I’ve ever, ever experienced before, both physically and emotionally, and mentally, and just so many lessons, it was amazing’ she described what the prison visit involved: 

‘The prisoners have spent 20 or 30 weeks studying this entrepreneurship, and then what they have to do is present their business and their hustle to you, and you need to mentor them. So as a business owner, or as someone who’s from the outside world who has experience, you go in there and they basically pitch, you listen to them, and you help mentor them and guide them through their program, you go through their progress.  

‘Along the way, you also hear about their story. And you get to connect with them on an emotional level, to really hear and understand what their upbringing was like, and what their background was like. And that, I think, was the biggest eye opener that I’ve ever experienced.  

‘We did an exercise called ‘step to the line’, on one side of the line, were all the volunteers. And on the other side, there’re all the prisoners. And you literally had to step to the line if there was a sentence that was true for you. And if it wasn’t true for you step back. And just very simple comments, or questions such as ‘were you tucked in at night by two loving parents as a child’. And of course, you know, 99% of the volunteers stayed at the line. And I would say maybe two or three of the prisoners were left standing at the line. And to look at that, it just hit home that from day one, most of those men, (and I’m not saying every single prisoner falls into this category) but the majority are born into their situations. And if they don’t have the right leadership, if they don’t have the right mentors, if they don’t personally have the right skill set to be able to get themselves out of that, then it turns to an illegal opportunity. And they take that on board. They get driven by the money, they get driven by the success. And that was really the number one eye opener for me from the get go.’ 

Two things drove Jacqui to volunteer for this experience; the passion Catherine demonstrated and also to look more into forgiveness. ‘Because I’ve never given an incarcerated person a second chance, I’ve pretty much shut the door on them and said, ‘Well, you’ve done wrong, why should you be let out?’ Which I think a lot of people do. And I guess that in its own right is a judgment without knowing the facts.’ 

Jacqui shared with me many parts of her experience, including sitting on a bus full of entrepreneurs, but I will skip ahead to entering the prison itself. ‘For me the number one part of the experience that will never ever leave me was walking into the prison. And going through the security check. And literally the only thing you are allowed on you is your ID. That was it. No phones, absolutely nothing other than your ID. So you walk in. And it’s like watching a movie.  

‘You hear the big steel gates, and the big steel doors, solid steel doors closed behind you. You are in this little box, the security guard is behind his glass wall. And he’s looking at you, checking your ID. It was a group of about 10 people in this box. And all I could hear were like 50 or 60 men on the other side of this door screaming and shouting. And my heart was in my throat and I was thinking I’m about to feed myself to the sharks. That’s how I felt. And there was no way back at that point. 

‘I was comforted by the fact that I was with other people. And it wasn’t just females that I was with. But the very first thing when you’re in that security section that you are told is ‘this is a maximum security prison, the highest security you can go. And that threat is real. If you hear gunshots, they are real gunshots. There’s no drill. If you hear a gunshot, then you will also hear guards yelling ‘go to ground, go to ground, go to ground.’ But as volunteers we ask you not to go to ground. So if you hear ‘go to ground’ and you hear a gunshot don’t go to ground, find a wall and stand against the wall.’ And that is so they can differentiate you obviously from the prisoners.  

‘Then these doors open, the steel door opens. And we’re at the top of this concrete and metal staircase. And you look down and there are literally about 50 grown men in prison uniform, screaming and shouting in excitement to welcome us and the music was going and they’re all dancing. And they’re forming a tunnel. And we’re walking down the stairs and having to then walk through this tunnel of incarcerated men who were in there for everything. 

‘I honestly I felt like I was walking down those steps thinking ‘Oh my gosh, what the hell am I doing?’’ 

After this amazing experience (times two as she visited two different prisons over two days) Jacqui achieved her goals of changing her view of people in prisons. She now tries to always keep an open mind until you know exactly what someone has been through. 

Jacqui felt that stepping out of her comfort zone really enabled her to grow, and encourages others to step out of their own comfort zones – but adds they need to do it for themselves not for anyone else! 

About Jacqui:

After experiencing the suffering of cancer from the deaths of her brother-in-law and beautiful mother, along with having 2 young children, managing a business and encountering a life-threatening infection, Jacqui has learnt that even the most capable people still need help during a challenging time.

These experiences caused her to stop, reflect and question the true meaning of life.

Evaluating the next stage of her entrepreneurial journey Jacqui made the decision to combine her love for people and business to launch her next venture: The Helping Hub.

A new and unique online marketplace for people to turn good intentions into practical gift-giving solutions with products and support service vouchers to provide the answer to the question “How can I help?”

As Managing Director, Jacqui focuses on the strategic direction of the business, liaises with key stakeholders and manages the day to day operations.

To join the mission, visit www.thehelpinghub.com