Georgian Court University’s annual week of education and awareness shines the spotlight on global and national issues each fall and gives participants ways to get involved locally in matters of real concern.

Last year, the emphasis was on the environment and more than 15 seminars and sessions were devoted to preserving and conserving natural resources. This year, the focus – drawn annually from one of the critical concerns of the Sisters of Mercy – was women’s issues.

From Nov. 2-5, students at the Lakewood campus and members of the community at large had the opportunity to hear a wide range of nationally and internationally known experts, scholars, advocates and faculty offer compelling takes on a spectrum of women’s issues.

Topics ranged from the history of women in the Church to their present status and future possibilities to the ways in which women’s issues dovetail with environmental matters, feminist art, science, health issues, gender concerns and balancing work and family.

Headline speakers included Mercy Sister Margaret Farley, an awardwinning ethicist, author and teacher; Mary J. Meehan, president of Alveno College and Miriam Cruse, a noted advocate for both Hispanic and women’s issues.

Free and open to the community, the vast menu of offerings posed a challenge to those who couldn’t attend everything and had to pick and choose from the menu.

I was in that category and really worked at deciding what to select.

In the end, it came down to three presentations that offered a chance to get the sweep of the conference on spiritual, national and local levels.

“What do Biblical Women Have to Say to us Today?” presented by Dr. Judith Schubert, professor of religious studies and theology at GCU, placed women’s concerns in a historical and spiritual perspective in an engaging and educational way.

Overcoming Equality Issues in Education presented by Cruse, whose history with women’s and Hispanic issues goes back to 1973, offered a dynamic overview of the progress that has been made in opening up the educational field to minorities.

The third session, on reintegrating women who have served prison time back into society was very compelling on many levels.

Presented by Redeem-Her founder Stacy Kindt and Robert Louden, program director of Criminal Justice at GCU, it offered up close and very personal insight on a woman’s issue that doesn’t get much attention unless, of course, the prisoner in question is Martha Stewart or Leona Helmsley, the late hotel queen.

Kindt was someone who did indeed make the newspapers a few years back. The former elementary school teacher was sentenced to prison on a kidnapping conviction from a child custody suit.

Redeem-Her, the nonprofit she founded, was born as a direct result of her observations of the way incarceration and its aftermath affect women. During the presentation, she talked about the fact that women who complete their sentences usually don’t have much of a support system waiting for them when they exit.

Kindt said her career opportunities are severely limited by the nature of the crime she was convicted for. “I had been a productive member of society before, but coming out of prison was the most difficult thing in my life. “You spend 10 years in the legal system and two and a half years in the prison system and you realize when you come out that Walmart won’t hire felons. You can’t pour coffee at WaWa. You can’t mentor Girl Scouts or be a Big Sister.”

The scenario is the same for many women coming out of prison, she said and it fuels statistics that show two out of three female inmates are likely to return to crime.

Kindt, who was paroled in 2004 after serving 16 months at Edna Mahon Correctional Facility, Clinton – the only women’s prison in the state – decided to work to change those statistics.

She patterned Redeem-Her after the Oxford House model based on the concept that all people need a family.

“What we do at Redeem-Her is create a family,” said Kindt who noted that the organization is operating halfway houses around Central New Jersey to offer women safe havens when they re-enter society.

Redeem-Her is also operating thrift shops in our area where women can work to fulfill community service obligations. Redeem-Her thrift shops are located at 1970 Route 9 in Toms River and in Neptune at 101 Third Avenue.

The day the conference concluded, I packed up some household items and professional clothing which would be good for job interviews and dropped them off at the Redeem-Her Thrift Shop in Toms River, where they were quickly accepted. It brought a dynamic week to a very good conclusion.

For more information about RedeemHer, call 732-597-8636 or visit www.redeemher.org