Freedom Nut

In 2019 I did some prison ministry work at Limon Correctional facility in Limon, Colorado. Having never been in a prison before, I didn't know what to expect and was nervous walking in for the first time. I quickly met some of the inmates and realized that they are not caged animals. They are real people who, as one inmate told me, had one really, really, really bad night.

One time when I was there, the warden gave us a tour of the prison. We got to the reentry area and he sort of breezed through it and said there's a couple of computers here that they can use if they want, and we moved on. That got my wheels turning and I thought, what if I could offer these guys employment when they get out? Well, the logistics of that isn't very good due to the small size of my shop and it's location in the mountains.

That got me looking into recidivism and I quickly learned that 54% of people released from prison in Colorado go back within three years. Two of the biggest causes for this are lack of employment and lack of housing. I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I developed the concept of having my custom furniture business (wegnercustomfurniture.com), a showroom, a cabinet shop and a metal fabrication shop in one location along with studio housing above the shops. We will hire people returning to society after incarceration and give them the job training, jobs and housing that they need to better their lives.

To raise capital for this venture, I formed the ReImagine Potential Foundation (reimaginepotentialfoundation.org) which will help in the acquisition of property. To help raise money, I took a concept and idea that I've had since 2015, Freedom Nut, and launched it to help raise money and to help people achieve the freedom that everyone deserves! Proceeds from Freedom Nut purchases will be used to help fund this venture.

To learn more about recidivism and the huge problem that it is, and how we plan to tackle it, please visit reimaginepotentialfoundation.org.

If you'd like a laser engraved sign like the one at the top of the page, please contact me at joe@wegnercustomfurniture.com

Thank you for your support and God bless you!