Jade Lewis Blog

Second Chance Day: Yellow Ribbon Project

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:14:00 GMT

We are now on the count down to Second Chance Day: Yellow Ribbon Project and "The Sunday Times Perth Now" featured a beautiful story on this campaign featuring one of our amazing women. You will be so inspired at her life transformation. Make sure you pass this great story onto all those you know.
check it out http://www.perthnow.com.au/prisoners-get-a-second-chance/story-e6frg4nl-1226316761161

December Newsletter

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:58:00 GMT

I am sure you would agree when I say that this has been the fastest 12 months ever! It has been an incredible journey for all those involved with Jade Lewis & Friends Inc, giving female prisoners a second chance at life. Click on Read More to find out about the great 2011 we have had as well as the exciting thins coming up in 2012!

October Newsletter

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:44:00 GMT

Hello Everyone, Someone once said that "Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end". One of the most exciting new beginnings we have to announce is the birth of my beautiful little boy Noah James. For news and picture in see the full Newsletter.

Official Launch coming soon!

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 02:10:00 GMT

We are pleased to announce our newest initiative Jade Lewis & Friends Inc: giving women prisoners a second chance at life. Today we are a not-for-profit charitable organisation after our recent application to the Australian Tax Office was successful. We are excited about the plans to expand this work in the prison and community. This also means that all monetary gifts over $2 to our organisation is a tax deduction for YOU!

At Jade Lewis & Friends Inc. we are committed to working with this marginalised group of women in our community who need all the help and support they can get to rebuild and restore their lives.

We love the quote from John F Kennedy when he said "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country".
As part of our commitment to building drug free people and communities, our prison support work will help to build a better tomorrow for Australians. Our prison support programs so far include:

Step UP Pre Release Prison personal development program: a life skills program delivered weekly to women at Bandyup Women's Prison including fitness, character development, Christian faith, values and morals.

Blessings from the Heart provides women with essential items (toiletries, household items, clothing all donated from community groups and members) on their release from prison for a more comfortable transition back to community;

Grace Transitional Centre for Women a brand new project to establish a transition centre for women who are released from prison to reside in a 6-12 month fully supervised program to help them to rehabilitate and readjust to community through a leadership, life skills and education training program.

With loads of positive feedback and an overwhelmingly positive response from the community, we know we are just at the beginning of something amazing.

Here's what one of the Step UP participants wrote:

"You are my inspiration. Your life has had a great impact on mine. I thought there was no hope in this world. Since I met you, through the Step UP Prison Program, I thought if you could do it then not only me but everyone could do it (beat addiction, crime and violence). When you prayed for us and our children, I would like to thank you for that, because I haven't had anyone pray for me before. So that I am out of prison, I will always keep you in my heart".

We invite you to partner with us for the official launch. With The Hon Colin Barnett MLA Premier of WA, the Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor, Lisa Scaffidi, Bandyup Women's Prison Superintendant Marie Chatwin and Dixie Marshall as our special guests you want to miss this event.

The aim for this event is to raise awareness of our project, inform the community of the financial and in-kind needs required to help more women. There will be plenty of opportunities for everyone to take part in our vision. We can't wait to see the response. So gather your table of 8 (or individual tickets) quick. Tickets selling fast.

If you are unable to attend this event, but would like to support our work, the pledge form above is available to be completed and sent back to us at

Jade Lewis & Friends Inc: PO Box 2178 Carlisle North Post Office WA 6101 or Fax: 08 9470 2657

We look forward to partnering with you at this exciting time. What we call the beginning of Jade Lewis & Friends Inc is actually the end; the end of broken lives, tragedy, addiction and hurt for many marginalised women. By the grace of God, this is what we exist to do; give women prisoners and their families a second chance at life.

You may be just one person in the world, but to one person you may mean the world. Your donation and support will be a lifeline to many. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

Tristan and Jade Lewis
On behalf of the Board and Committee of Jade Lewis & Friends Inc
www.jadelewis.com

Merry Christmas

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:28:00 GMT

As Christmas approaches we have a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the amazing events of 2010. At Jade Lewis and Friends we have much to be thankful for. This year Tristan and I have delivered almost 300 presentations and programs to schools, parent groups, prison women, community groups, youth groups and churches throughout Australia, we have also distributed thousands of resources, gift packs, free plane flights, food hampers and messages of hope. The many lives that have been influenced and changed along the way is truly remarkable. I wanted to start with some beautiful feedback we have received from the Step UP Prison program women:

"Thanks for bringing some sparkle and inspiration into this place for us every week. You are such a beautiful person and your determination & drive to help others seems endless. I am so glad that I joined your class, I don't know why it took me so long to do so".

"Thank you for running Step UP. It has helped me in many ways. We all need more people like you in this world to show us the wayt o a better life. Thanks for all your support, it means the world to me."

"Coming to the end of Step UP I have been reflecting on how awe-inspiring and life changing Step UP is. WOW".

Feedback like this are an indication of the positive attitude changes the women have made while completing the Step UP Prison program. Your continued partnership helps us to further develop and deliver our programs and change many lives. It also occurred to me that changing other people's lives actually changes my life along the way. This Christmas let's all be intentional about helping someone in need. Your reward of giving will certainly be a greater gift than you have received before.

We are also thankful that this year, Jade Lewis and Friends have won many awards. This has helped to raise a greater awareness of our work in the community and establish a great credibility too. Although we are very honoured with now being a mulit-award winning group, we are also determined not to stop at these achievements. We know there is so much more to do and become before we see our dream realised. We will continue to climb the mountains, overcome our fears, influence more people, enjoy the journey and be part of changing the lives of many for the rest of our lives. I love this quote: "Success comes in only one place before work - that is the dictionary!"

To all our fantastic family, supporters, friends, confidants and partners who help us with our hectic work, we THANK YOU! We couldn't do what we do without you. Thank you for making 2010 the best yet. We look forward to partnering with you again in 2011 knowing that together we ARE making a difference. Make sure you spread the word and also visit our website www.jadelewis.com to stay connected with all that we are doing.

Enjoy all our news in this Christmas newsletter. May God bless you and your families this Christmas and may the gift of Jesus be a reality to you. You mean the world to us!

Love and blessings,

Tristan, Jade, Annaleigh and Elyssa
& all the team at Jade Lewis & Friends
xoxo

ANOTHER AWARD!

On Tuesday night 19th October Jade Lewis & Friends was na
med the WINNER of the Belmont Small Business of the Year - Commu

nity Spirit Award 2010.

Tristan, myself and our team are incredibly encouraged by another award and the great credibility, exposure and fantastic indicator that we are on the right track.

Pictured with Tristan and I above, is one of our board members - Paul Faix (www.fortix.com.au) who won his category of Customer Service. We are thankful that we have gathered an excellent team who specialise in their field. Well done Paul!

It's From our Heart - helping women prisoners transition back to community

With many broken and hurting women crying out for help with their transition back to community, "It's From our Heart" has provided many essential items and care for women across Western Australia. Because of the overwhelming generosity of the community, our kindly donated office space from JYCA Accounting Services has now spread from one office to two! A big thank you for the continued support of all our wonderful supporters who everyday make this project successful. With this support our vision to see the lives of broken women restored, families united and the crime rate lowed for a safer community for all is happening.

This Christmas, together with Riverview Community Services (thank you Penny, Donna and Ruth) aswell as church groups and individual donors we were able to give away many Christmas presents, items and food hampers to these women and their precious children.

"Thank you for blessing me so much every time."

Thank you to the following groups who have contributed since October to this project. Perth CLC Women's group, Methodist Ladies College, Airport City Church, Eternity Christian Church, the cast and crew of theatre production Spamalot, the Inner Wheel Club of Scarborough, the women at the Karrakatta Club and Blue Satin Sashes www.bluesatinsashes.com.au

We are always looking for community, women, church and school groups to partner with us for new and exciting projects, which is a growing community initiative. Please email jade@jadelewis.com if you would like to volunteer, donate items or goods or make a financial contribution to this project.

Rotary District Conference 9500 Adelaide - October 2010

Having the opportunity to continue to spread our vision to the wonderful people of South Australia was a great privilege. Pictured left in the photo, the Chair of the Rotary District 9500 David Simpson had this to say:

"It was generally agreed that your presentation and information supplied was highlight of our conference!"

Being introduced to some very passionate Rotary Clubs will see our message spread to the schools and communities of Adelaide in the near future. Since beginning my work, the unending support of various Rotary Clubs of Australia (www.rotary.org.au) has been a vital support group to helping us see our dream of building drug free people and communities realised. A big thank you to all the Rotary Clubs who have supported us over the years.

JUST SAY NO - School Drug Prevention Presentation

With over 10 years presenting in Australian schools, our passion to reach young people continues to grow. Recently after Tristan spoke with the guys from a school, they were so enthralled by his story that they stayed over their lunch break to talk with him more. And with more feedback like:

"Thanks so much for coming to speak today. My day has been filled with teachers coming up and saying they were really touched by your story. The teachers were amazed that the students were all so captivated. All of them were grateful to you for giving up your time to come and speak to our students."

We continue to firmly believe that "prevention is far better than cure". We look forward to visiting your school again in 2011.

Under YOUR Influence - leading teenagers into a drug and alcohol problem free life

Going from strength to strength is our parent and youth leader empowerment course. We believe that to making a lasting impact on our young people today, the family needs to be educated on how to lead their teenagers into a drug and alcohol problem free life. Here are some of the feedback a school received from a parent after my presentation:

"Thank you for organising Jade Lewis to come to our school. Her story was beyond amazing and extremely positive in the circumstances. The way she put her story across took my breath away. She was the best speaker I have ever seen, and I have seen a few."

And from a school principal:

"Thank you for your presentation at our College. I am still getting positive feedback from the parents who attended aswell as regrets from the ones who were unable to attend on the night. We will definately be arranging for you to come and speak to our middle school in 2011."

Be sure to arrange a presentation to your school or group in 2011.

Paradise Community Church - Adelaide October 2010

Another fantastic highlight in Adelaide was the opportunity to speak at Paradise Community Church (www.paradise.asn.au) It goes without saying that this thriving church is all about reaching, supporting, providing for those in their community and being part of seeing their lives and their families restored. It was a great honour to share my story and see 103 people come forward to receive prayer, salvation, direction and support. What a great faith builder that was for so many people. We are blessed to have Ps Ashley and Jane Evans bringing great leadership and momentum to our nation. Amazing.

Shirelive Church - Sydney December 2010

I couldn't think of a better way to finish off a fantastic year than with Ps Mike and Valerie Murphy, Senior Pastors of Shirelive Sydney (www.shirelive.com) Tristan and I felt very connected and loved every part of our Shirelive Sydney stay. Both the morning service at Bayside and the evening service in Sutherland saw many people respond to the message of hope by coming forward and receiving prayer for new beginnings.

It again showed us that we are the carriers of hope and it is our privilege to pass on the positive Christian message to people in our communities. With such relational, caring, generous and supportive pastors and leaders at Shirelive, Sydney is privileged to have such an amazing church available to them. It was an honour to partner with Shirelive.

Next newsletter

2011 will see Jade Lewis & Friends step into a whole new chapter. We can't wait to share the news with you. We have been hard at work for next year's plan. Make sure you stay connect with us as you won't want to miss out on what are going to share. It will be your opportunity to join us in an exciting 2011. Until then have a safe, blessed and happy Christmas and a lovely New Year. xo

Under YOUR Influence Sample

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:08:00 GMT

Hi everyone,
If you missed out on attending Under YOUR Influence Family Drug Prevention Seminar then check out some of it here.
Be sure to grab the entire evening on DVD by going to our online store and purchasing your own copy that comes with a free copy of Under YOUR Influence book. Enjoy!

Alicia Curtis Interview

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:28:00 GMT

Interview Video

Sunday Times Article

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 01:38:00 GMT

Just Say NO Community Drug Prevention Seminar - What a success!
With feedback like "very positive and inspirational, gives me hope for my son" and "brilliant, covered all aspects, very informative", great advice for parents and teenagers in drug prevention", "extremely helpful insight and information" we rapt with the outcome.

If you missed out, then make sure you register for the next event on Monday 21 June 2010. You can register on this site. Get ready for another powerful life changing event. Bring a friend or family member that needs some insight, direction and inspiration. You could be the life line that they need. See you then, Jade xx

Reminder one week for Community Drug Prevention seminar

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:11:00 GMT

Have you registered for the event on Sunday 30th May 2010 at Midland Art Centre. Register here now.

Strategy 2: Explain the legal, social and health consequences of drug and alcohol use

Thu, 20 May 2010 09:01:00 GMT

“One in two Australians 15-17 who get drunk will do something they regret.” ²4

Talk about the immediate effects of using drugs and drinking alcohol. Some can include poor choices, risk of unsafe sex or sexual assault, injuries, drink driving, violence, breaking the law, getting trouble with the police, and a possible criminal
record. These problems can happen even for the single occasion. Having a criminal record may have a big impact on a teenager’s life long after the incident.

A great website which covers current laws for each state is www.lawstuff.org.au

There are many risks and problems drugs and alcohol can cause on teenagers whose bodies and brains are still developing. During the teenage years drug and alcohol can
interfere with important developmental processes and can cause problems with thinking and learning. Drugs and alcohol can really mess with a teenagers emotions and psychological state.

Parents can still influence their teenager. Strategy 1: Provide age-appropriate information

Thu, 20 May 2010 09:02:00 GMT

Be the first one to talk to your children about drugs and alcohol before someone with an opposing view does
STRATEGIES:
1. Provide age-appropriate information
Children appear to be growing up faster, and are exposed to drugs and alcohol at an even earlier age. Children as young as 10 are being introduced to drugs and alcohol²². It is vital that you help your children form attitudes towards these things early. If they know drugs and alcohol are bad long before they’re offered any, it will be easier for them to say NO if that time comes. Your children will look to you for answers only if they feel that you will be open to their questions. It’s up to you to create the kind of atmosphere in which your teenager can ask any questions.

Ages 8 to 12
Children this age usually are willing to talk openly with their
parents. Establishing a dialogue about drugs and alcohol now will help as they develop into their teenage years. Even if your questions don’t immediately result in a discussion, you’ll get your children thinking about the issue. If you show your child that you’re willing to discuss the topic of drugs and alcohol and hear what they have to say, they will be more willing to come to you for help in the future.

You can begin conversations with your children by asking them what they think about drugs and alcohol. Your children are already exposed to these issues and already receiving different messages through TV shows, movies, media and school friends.
Right now you have a wonderful opportunity to present your child with accurate information that will validate your family’s personal values and moral principles toward drugs and alcohol.

Ages 13 to 17
Children aged 11 to 14 are most concerned about drug use.²³ Use media, news stories and real-life stories to start a discussion about drugs and alcohol. Keep the discussion open and flowing as many teenagers are still willing to express their thoughts, feelings or concerns with parents about it.

Teenagers are likely to know someone who has dabbled or is using drugs or alcohol on a regular basis. It is important to talk often about the legality, potential dangers, like driving under the influence, consequences of criminal records, fines, and even the possibility of injury or early death.

Let them know that if they find themselves around drugs or
alcohol using friends, that they can contact you at any time to come and get them, without fear of being interrogated.