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December 23, 2022 by Benevolence Farm

Meet the Dream Team: Katie

The Dream Team Series highlights the amazing work of each of our staff members. Over the past few weeks, we’ve highlighted each team member on different platforms and mediums. Today, we’d like to introduce you to Katie Anderson, Second Chance Alamance Project Manager

How did you come to know Benevolence Farm?
I am not only a formerly incarcerated individual, but also a former resident of Benevolence Farm. I served close to a year and a half in North Carolina’s state prisons. Benevolence Farm has been my saving grace over the years. My reentry process was more difficult than my incarceration. I am still faced with some of the barriers that come along with the labels society places on us, almost three years post incarceration. Thankfully, I was hired at Benevolence Farm as the Second Chance Alamance Project Manager in the beginning of 2022.

In my role, I support and advocate for the women of Alamance County and North Carolina. I am also the manager at our Second Phase Housing Option in Burlington, which opened earlier this year. Here, I am able to achieve my goals of helping people during their own journey through the reentry process. My objective is to help make someone else’s experience a little less difficult than my experience was.

Another main reason I work with Benevolence Farm is because I am proof that change is hard, but possible. When a resident is faced with something that may feel as though they may never make it through, I am able to comfort them by showing them that achieving the goals they have set for themselves is very much obtainable. And every time someone reaches a milestone in their journey, I am pleased to be able to celebrate their victory with them. That may be the absolute best part of the entire experience of working with Benevolence Farm.

What do you wish people knew about our work here at the Farm?
I honestly don’t know how people are successful without the network of a program. I know if it wasn’t for Benevolence Farm there to help me find my path, I wouldn’t have made it on my own. I am one of the lucky ones; it’s so easy to slip back into that type of lifestyle without the support of a good network. There are so many requirements the legal system wants parolees to meet, it sometimes feels as though it’s all set up to make you fail.

If I could change ONE thing about the reentry process for the next person, I would remove housing barriers we face because of poor decisions in the past. I am not the same person who was arrested in 2018. I gave that person and lifestyle up when I hit my bottom in the spring of 2019. Almost three years after my release from prison, I still fight to be able to get someone to trust me enough to rent a home for my children and myself. I am forced to choose a home that most of the time isn’t in a good neighborhood or is likely to be in an unsafe environment. I cannot explain clearly how passionate I am to make finding housing a little more accessible for formerly incarcerated individuals who may have been labeled and are judged unjustly. We are a community. We MUST work together.

What is it like working at Benevolence Farm? Why should people invest in our Dream Team?
Everyday we are faced with complications or difficult situations. The Dream Team carries the weight of our world on our shoulders. We are continuously investigating new ways around some of the unrealistic expectations society places on our residents. This work isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes a toll on you physically, mentally, and emotionally. Some days are better than others. One day our hearts may be breaking because there aren’t any other options to offer our residents, and other days we are bursting at the seams because we can no longer contain our pride for our residents.

THERE IS NEVER AN UNEVENTFUL DAY AT BENEVOLENCE FARM!

That’s the rewarding part. Everyday we are able to witness the change happening for our residents right in front of our eyes. Our residents find their passion and confidence at the farm. We are the lucky ones. We get the opportunity to watch as our residents blossom into the women they are intended to be. Benevolence Farm is very much the family so many of us have needed for so long. Our residents come to our program with the urgency to do something different with their lives. To start completely over with new barriers to overcome is not an easy task. It takes invested time, resources, support and direction.

The staff at Benevolence Farm are the ones on the front lines fighting for our residents, encouraging them to do exceedingly amazing things. Step-by-step, we conjure up an action plan that will put our residents in the best situation possible. A place where they are able to meet their goals and focus on their future.

Any last thoughts?
I wouldn’t be here today without Benevolence Farm. All my basic needs were met and I was given a safe space to be able to focus on accomplishing the goals I’ve set for my future. As a participant in Benevolence Farm’s residency program, I found the true meaning of the word grace. I was accepted for who I was and who I wanted to become, not for what I was accused of doing. I never received this type of grace and respect before and I am eternally proud to be able to pay it forward to other women going through the same hardships I’ve experienced. I admire the hard work our residents do towards meeting their goals and I passionately believe everyone deserves to be celebrated every step of the way.

Katie Anderson is the Second Chance Alamance Project Manager at Benevolence Farm. Her journey at Benevolence Farm began as a resident, where she pursued her North Carolina certification as a peer support specialist. In her current role at Benevolence Farm, Katie supports and advocates for women in Alamance County who have been impacted by the North Carolina criminal legal system.

Invest in the Benevolence Farm Dream Team today

Photo Gallery: Earlier this summer, Katie took part in a USA Today photography feature.


Photography credit: Stan Sussina

After being released from prison in 2020 for a 2016 breaking and entering charge, Katie Anderson became a resident of Benevolence Farm in Graham. Now she helps others by working with the same place that she credits for helping her turn her life around. Benevolence Farm is an organization that seeks to cultivate leadership, promote sustainable livelihoods, and reap structural change with individuals impacted by the criminal justice system in North Carolina. Anderson also works with an organization called We Are Down Home. As a representative, Anderson helps bail people out of jail who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it. Anderson also works as a freelance peer support specialist, where she helps people establish goals, provides rides to work, and helps people find jobs. Anderson’s professional life is not the only thing that’s improved since her time as a resident at Benevolence Farm. She is now seeing progress in her family life. Although Anderson’s mother has custody of her kids, she continues to have a relationship with them and has recently been able to spend more time with them. “Regardless of the situation, I never stopped trying to see them,” said Anderson. On top of her work in the community and within her family, Anderson is in the process of starting her own program called Anderson’s Re-entry Program. Anderson’s overall goal for the program is to help formerly incarcerated people gain stability upon re-entry into society. The goal is to allow people to better prepare for their court cases on the outside. She hopes to prevent people from being thrown into the criminal justice system unfairly. Katie Anderson stands in front of the back field at Benevolence Farm in Graham, N.C., on July 6, 2022. Anderson says the work at Benevolence Farm was very rewarding and good for her mental health.
Katie Anderson on the meditation trail at Benevolence Farm in Graham, N.C., on July 6, 2022. Anderson says this was a peaceful place for her when she was a resident at Benevolence Farm.
Katie Anderson works with residents and employees in the shop at Benevolence Farm in Graham, N.C., on July 6, 2022. This was one of Anderson’s favorite places to work while she was a resident at the farm. Residents make a variety of products from ingredients grown on the farm.
Katie Anderson holds up her cell phone showing a picture of her posted to Facebook at her home in Burlington, N.C., on July 8, 2022. The picture is from 2013, when Anderson says she was dealing with addiction and had just injected drugs.
Katie Anderson, her son Addison, and her dog Iggy on the front steps of the 307 house in Burlington, N.C., on July 6, 2022. Anderson’s position with Benevolence Farm is the Project Manager of Second Chance Alamance. The 307 house is a second location where women who work on the farm live. Katie manages the house and checks in with residents on a regular basis.
Katie Anderson plays basketball with her son Addison in front of the 307 house in Burlington, N.C., on July 6, 2022. Katie regularly visits the house to check in on the residents and make sure everything is working properly.
Katie Anderson prepares to dye her daughter Eliana’s hair with Kool Aid at her home in Burlington, N.C., on July 8, 2022. Anderson’s mother adopted her kids in 2014, but she continues to have a relationship with them.
Katie Anderson, right, goes over paperwork with Magistrate Judge David L. Crabbe at Alamance County Detention Center in Graham, N.C., on July 12, 2022. Anderson works with We are Down Home to help bail people out of jail who otherwise couldn’t afford it. She says this helps people better prepare for their case on the outside instead of just being thrown into the justice system.
Katie Anderson, right, takes a break during a nature walk with Noel DeMatteo, one of her peer support clients at Burlington City Park in Burlington, N.C., on July 14, 2022.
A white board in Katie Anderson’s kitchen in Burlington, N.C., on July 8, 2022. Anderson is in the process of starting her own re entry program to help individuals and their families gain stability after incarceration. She says this board helps her organize her thoughts and continue to build on her vision of the organization.
USA Today photo essay by Stan Sussina

Filed Under: Weekly Updates

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