NERC Musicians Share Talents with Area Church
It really all started in 2016. Warden’s Assistant Jeff Bertram was asking Northeast Reintegration Center (NERC) Chaplain Robin Breidinger if he had a group of musicians that provided music for the Sunday church services at the Cleveland level 1 woman’s facility.
He surprised to learn that there was only resident that occasionally played an old beat-up, donated guitar, and that she was pretty much just a “beginner”. That resident was Lisa Hartman, and she was really interested in getting better at playing guitar and learning contemporary Christian songs that could be played for congregational worship inside the prison.
Mr. Bertram himself a guitarist and vocalist on his church’s Praise & Worship Team, committed to coordinating for the purchase of, and donations of musical equipment and gear needed for a band to function. In addition to that Bertram committed to spend 90 minutes a week to develop a team of musicians. Fast forward one year and that lone “beginner” is now part of, and leader of, a full Praise Team that regularly provides the music for the ladies at NERC during Sunday Services and in the Interfaith Dorm.
On January 9th & 10th that Praise Team took their talents to Cornerstone Chapel in Medina to provide the music for their Services.
Senior Pastor Mark Giamo said “I was delighted to give these ladies the opportunity to further hone their skills on a platform that they just don’t have access to at NERC.”
All of the ladies on the team responded with some level of emotion and nervousness at the opportunity to play outside the institution, and they leveraged that nervousness to deliver a flawless performance.
Hartman looks forward to volunteering her talents as a musician to her own home church after her reentry to the community later this year. In fact all of the ladies on the current team will be released by January 2018, but they are excited and willing to work with any new musicians transferred to “The Rock” in the coming months so that they can pass the torch.
