When Dreams Become a Reality: When Thoughts Become Actions

Change can be difficult, especially for a nonprofit with a long history like Dismas House. During the time period of 2014-2016 the organization was at a crossroads. Dismas House was operating three houses at the time in Nashville, Cookeville and South Bend, Indiana. The number of beds at the original house on Music Row was limiting in terms of serving more men and securing funding. The organization also operated a struggling social enterprise, a t-shirt printing business that was not profitable.  

John Rogers served as board chair in 2013-14 and had been on the board since 2009. The finances needed to be cleaned up and changes needed to be made. John says, “The t-shirt business provided good, practical experience for the guys but it was losing money. The Cookeville location was struggling as residents thought Nashville brought them more opportunity. It was a difficult time in the organization. I stayed on as board chair an extra year to provide stability and it was really in crisis management. Professionally, it was a good learning experience.”

Bob Adams, board member and treasurer 2012-19 reflects, “It was a transformational time in the organization. We had to make some hard decisions and I learned a lot during the experience.” At the time the board of directors and executive leadership made the difficult decisions to close the Cookeville house, close the t-shirt business and transition South Bend to being an independently owned and operated house. These decisions were not made without controversy or disagreement and required both short and long-term planning.

“Back then, the primary focus was to give residents a good home and a job. It’s grown beyond that now making sure their health and wellness is good. We all had different parts to play and I served with many great board members through the years,” says Bob. It’s his view that generally Dismas House had the right leadership in place at the right time throughout its 50-year history and he still serves on the Finance Committee. “I’m glad to see where it is today. They have the right funding to do what they need to do for the residents with Kay Kretsch’s leadership. They work hard to secure funding and the residents have a lot of opportunities to have an improved quality of life.”

Bob shared a favorite memory about hearing the testimonies of the residents at various board meetings and programs at Dismas House. “It puts what you do in perspective and how it positively impacted their lives. It’s a great reminder why we’re here and why we’re doing this. I would have a difficult time sharing like that. I have a lot of respect for the men to be able to do that.”

Jeff Lynch (pictured left) served as board chair in 2015 after serving several years on the board of directors. He first learned of Dismas House when he was a student at Vanderbilt University in the 1980s and went to a community fair on campus. He selected Vanderbilt Prison Project, which also had Dismas House founded by Father Jack Hickey as a community organization. He volunteered as a tutor in an adult education program at a Tennessee Men’s Prison run by professors at Tennessee State University. Jeff worked with inmates on test preparation, helped them think through writing a paper and reviewed homework assignments.

Through the experience, Jeff gained insight on a segment of society that he had no interaction with or connection before. He shares, “They are a child of God, just like me. If they want to make their lives better and their future better, I’m willing to participate in that process.” Several years later, he was asked if he would consider serving on the board of Dismas House. He felt like it was meant to be and the opportunity reconnected him to a chapter of his life in college.

Reflecting on his time serving on the board Jeff shares, “It was a period of significant change for Dismas House and the core function and mission had never changed. There was a lot of discussion and consideration in changing times and circumstances. How do we reimagine, how do we do it better than before? It was a several years process of re-evaluating who we were and how we operated. What’s efficient, what’s reasonable, and not be afraid or too stringent to what we’ve done in the past. Our core mission is valuable, potent and we can reimagine how we fulfill the mission.”

Jeff shares that all of the heavy lifting focusing on a lot of difficult, complicated things was necessary as first steps to focus on positive growth for Dismas House. “Another overarching concern, if we have faith in the mission does it outstrip our capacity to grow? Everything we offer service-wise is premised on housing. We can’t serve more men if we don’t have the physical capacity. We were limited in the size of the house on Music Row. That was another difficult thing, as the history of Dismas was tied to that house. The positive was the beautiful property we owned and we were starting to see redevelopment in the area and felt like we had an incredible asset we could leverage to go to the next level if we were open to it philosophically—to make a bigger impact with a bigger house.”

The time of Jeff’s leadership could be considered a time of the most significant change the organization had ever experienced. “At the end of my term, the old house was being sold, the capital campaign had begun and we started building the new house. It was a time of significant change and the old chapters in many ways were beautiful and necessary to get to where we want to be. To make a bigger impact, we had to think bigger. We need to keep focused on the mission as a central guidepost. Operationally, let’s not be constrained to the way things have been done in the past.”

Jeff shares, “We’re now serving 10 times more men that we were ever able to serve in the past. We are meeting a need that is not fully met but we help men successfully transition from incarceration to society. Our impact is many times greater where we are today. We have an incredible CEO who put together capable and professional staff. It’s wonderful to see where the organization is at today.”

He has good feelings about what can come and will come in the future by being a more effective and impactful organization with a bigger footprint. “From my perspective, a person of faith, I really believe Dismas has been blessed. It’s impacting lives and changing futures for human beings. It’s always been about redemption for me. We’re delivering something that God blesses. The things that happened along the way are providential.”

John Rogers concludes, “From my perspective, I feel while tough decisions had to be made, I’m thrilled the house and operations appear to be on good, stable ground with a bright future. It certainly does my heart good that I had a small part in it. It shows that if you put the right people in the right place, have a vision and figure out how to manage to it, good things will come. I think Father Jack would be pleased.”