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You are here: Home / Episode 74: Bearing Witness: From Prison to Purpose

Episode 74: Bearing Witness: From Prison to Purpose

    Episode 74: Bearing Witness: From Prison to Purpose

    Guest: Evie Litwok, Founder of Witness to Mass Incarceration

    Evie Litwok walked out of federal prison in 2014 with $30 and a Greyhound ticket. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Evie founded Witness to Mass Incarceration to help formerly incarcerated people rebuild their lives with dignity and support. Her work is deeply informed by her family’s experience of survival and her commitment to bearing witness to injustice. Witness to Mass Incarceration provides practical reentry support like laptops and phones for newly released individuals, offers vocational training, documents the stories of incarcerated people, connects formerly incarcerated business owners to build economic empowerment, and advocates to change conditions inside prisons, particularly around sexual violence and abuse. The Good People Fund gave Evie her very first grant, making this transformative work possible.

    Witness to Mass Incarceration is supported by the Good People Fund, which invests in innovative grassroots organizations making a difference in their communities.

    Explore The Good People Fund:

    www.goodpeoplefund.org

    Read The Good People Fund’s “2025 Journal of Good” for more stories of inspiration and impact:

    https://www.goodpeoplefund.org/news-and-publications/journal-of-good/

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    Episode 73: Building Bridges: Art for Social Change

    In this final episode of our Building Bridges series on Good People Talk, Naomi Eisenberger, The Good People Fund’s Founder and Executive Director, speaks with Jon Adam Ross, founder of Inheritance Theater Project, a Good People Fund grantee that uses performance art to build bridges between community members in cities across the country. Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, Jon’s family considered civic engagement and belief in a civil society to be of paramount importance in one’s life. Going on to study at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Jon was exposed to a wide range of performance art, eventually building his life’s work which combines those talents with his early lessons in creating and maintaining a civil society. Today, Inheritance Theater Project has created programs in more than 20 states, as well as for prestigious programs at Harvard Divinity School, the Obama Foundation and other entities. Jon shares stories of hope that have sprung up in the cities where ITP has appeared and believes that we, as a country, can go beyond the current unrest shaking the core beliefs of our shared society.

    Explore The Good People Fund:

    www.goodpeoplefund.org

    Read The Good People Fund’s “2025 Journal of Good” for more stories of inspiration and impact:

    https://www.goodpeoplefund.org/news-and-publications/journal-of-good/

    Filed under:

    When Our Good People Meet…

    We love to connect our Good People to each other for community and collaboration! This past week, Good People Fund grantees Elhanan Miller, Founder of People of the Book, and Mohammad (Mo) Al Samawi, Founder of Abrahamic House, met in Washington, DC for the first time. They are each doing important bridge-building work and approach their work from different lived experiences. Elhanan is Jewish (and a rabbi!) and from Israel. Mo is Muslim and from Yemen, originally. They share a deep commitment to breaking down barriers and building bridges of connection and conversation. We look forward to what will come out of this connection and are thrilled that the Good People Fund brought them together.

    A Year of Healing and Harvest at Ruca’s Farm

    2025 was a year of tremendous growth for Good People Fund grantee Ruca’s Farm, founded by Nir Lahav, to offer support and healing to people suffering from PTSD. The farm doubled its participant numbers, welcoming more than 180 individuals through core programs like Arugot (rehabilitation for long-term PTSD) and Shavim (early intervention for October 7 soldiers struggling to return to routine life after hundreds of days in reserves). Two new programs launched this year: Marva, supporting women whose partners cope with PTSD, and Advot, group therapy for couples dealing with early signs of post-trauma. To maintain connection with alumni, the farm developed on-site workshops including baking, handmade pasta-making, beekeeping, ice baths, photography, vegetable pickling, and writing/songwriting with a member of the band Hadag Nahash, along with monthly lectures and community events. The therapeutic staff expanded significantly, and in December, 250 people gathered to celebrate the farm’s third anniversary, a testament to how this place has become home for so many.

    Beyond therapeutic programming, Ruca’s Farm strengthened its agricultural foundation and volunteer community in 2025. With support from expert agronomists the farm significantly improved agricultural planning, beautifying the grounds and cultivating thriving organic vegetables now distributed to Tel Aviv employees, sold direct-to-home, and marketed to restaurants and health-food stores. Bee Hill underwent a major transformation with new pergolas, pathways, a small pond, and plantings, creating a peaceful sanctuary where expanded beekeeping programs now include rehabilitation courses for participants. The volunteer base grew to over 100 regular weekly volunteers, plus more than 1,200 corporate volunteers from 50+ high-tech groups, and international delegations from Birthright and Jewish Federations. Seven enthusiastic shin-shinim (national service volunteers) joined in September, supporting agricultural work, assisting participants in the field, organizing events, and conducting outreach with at-risk youth in neighboring Or Yehuda. Looking ahead to 2026, the farm plans to open a women-only PTSD group, construct a creative arts center, install a traditional Middle Eastern bustan garden, develop the Ayalon Creek gathering space, and add solar panels that will generate both power and income.

    Serving Up Soup—and Community—at Zumwalt Acres

    Good People Fund grantee Zumwalt Acres in Illinois, co-founded by sisters Gavi and Remi Welbel provides Community Soup to their neighbors as a way to build community, address food insecurity, and offer dignity. This is a wonderful project in which there is no difference between anyone who attends, offering community and soup to all. Everyone is encouraged to bring containers to take soup home. The Good People Fund was proud to assist with a matching grant to help fund this beautiful initiative.

    Pictured here is Gavi Welbel, co-founder of Zumwalt Acres, with her apple harvest.