Did The Crime, Did The Time, And Doing More Than Fine

It’s amazing how little I know about some of our mailbox customers and how I am loving getting to know more of you each and every day through this “spotlight” process. Dirk Van Velzen has been a Ballard Sip and Ship mailbox customer for almost two and half years and he recently shared his story. The following story is true and none of the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Dirk was a convicted criminal in 1999 and was sentenced to 15 years for commercial burglary. Being locked up was the last place he envisioned his life and in short order decided to make the most of his situation and elected to get an education. Online college degree programs were not yet a reality which meant Dirk was going to have to earn his degree with pen and paper, and through the use of the United States Postal Service. Over time, Dirk received his education through Penn State, and graduated in the top one percent of his class. In an effort to pay it forward, and share the power of knowledge with his fellow inmates, Dirk founded The Prison Scholarship Fund - watch more here. Dirk is exploring partnerships with Washington State University and Arizona State to develop a hybrid-online degree program that prisoners can complete, and aims to raise enough funds to change the life trajectories of 4500 students by the year 2020; a significant increase from 110 in 2015. “I do what I do because the people in prison are largely forgotten and I won’t leave my brothers and sisters behind.”
Thank you Dirk for sharing your story with us and for allowing the SIp and Shipcommunity to be a part of your mission in creating positive change

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