WITH Offers Hospitality For Jail Visitors

The RISE church location is in the former Ragtime Fabrics building, just across the corner
 from the Rockingham/Harrisonburg Jail.

Friends and family members of inmates at our local jail sign in early on Saturday mornings for their weekly visit, then typically have to wait for up to an hour for their turn to spend time with their loved ones. Space in the jail lobby is limited, so many wait in their cars or on the jail steps.

For some months now, interested volunteers who have created a local effort called WITH have utilized space made available by the nearby RISE Church to welcome folks in for snacks, coffee, tea and a warm place to hang out and talk during their wait. The number of guests has ranged from six to over twenty, and more have been showing up as word gets around.

WITH provides an atmosphere that is informal and invitational.

Guests often welcome the chance to talk about some of the stress they experience having a loved one incarcerated. In one case a woman from Maryland had been released from jail at midnight on a winter night and had nowhere to go and no way to get back home. After spending the night in the jail lobby, she met a volunteer who invited her to come by for coffee and conversation. WITH volunteers got some money together for a bus ticket for her to get back to Maryland.

In April WITH hopes to open its doors for the Saturday evening visitation time as well.