OPEN HEARTS OPEN MINDS

Our purpose is to open hearts and minds.

Board of Directors

Deborah Buchanan, President; Mia Butzbaugh, Secretary; Johnny Stallings, Executive Director; Will Hornyak; Bill Faricy; Bushra Azzouz.

Past

In the Spring of 2005, Executive Director Johnny Stallings gave two performances of his solo version of Shakespeare's King Lear at Two Rivers Correctional Institution, a state prison near Umatilla, Oregon. After each performance, he talked with the prison inmates in the audience. In the Fall of 2005, he gave two performances of Silence, and in the Spring of 2006, he gave two performances of Hamlet. (For more about his shows, see www.johnnystallings.com.)  The discussions after the shows were so extraordinary, that Johnny proposed to the prison administration that he facilitate weekly dialogues with the inmates.

With financial support from Jerry Smith and the Jerry and Donna Smith Family Foundation, in July of 2006, Johnny began regularly facilitating weekly dialogues among Two Rivers prison inmates. The theme of the dialogues is: "The Stories We Tell Ourselves: How Our Thinking Shapes Our Lives." During these dialogues, prisoners discuss how to live a meaningful life while in prison, how to change one's destructive patterns of life and thought in order to find happiness and to make a positive contribution to society.

Mr. Stallings formalized this work by founding Open Hearts Open Minds. Open Hearts Open Minds had its first board meeting on July 26, 2007, at which bylaws were adopted  and officers elected. On December 26, 2007, the IRS granted Open Hearts Open Minds 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt status as a public charitable organization.

Members of Johnny's dialogue group asked if they could put on a play. On March 12, 2008, they began rehearsals for a production of Shakespeare's Hamlet. They gave four performances for their fellow inmates and two performances for the general public, which included members of their families, in late September and early October of 2008. This was the first time that inmates in an Oregon prison performed a play by William Shakespeare. 

Present

Since July of 2006, Mr. Stallings has continued to facilitate weekly dialogues with inmates at Two Rivers prison.

Future

 WELCOME

Hi, I'm Johnny Stallings, Executive Director of Open Hearts Open Minds. I'm very fortunate to get to go to prison every week. I'm even more fortunate, because when we have finished our group dialogue, they let me walk right out the front door! 

The guys I meet with in prison are not so lucky. They have months or years ahead of them before they will be allowed to leave. Some may live the rest of their lives in prison.

If you were to sit in on our weekly dialogue at Two Rivers prison, I don't think you would be mildly surprised. I think you would be utterly astonished! You would find yourself in a roomful of people who remind you of someone--- yourself! The shock of recognition is uncanny: this could be me! This is me!

We live in prisons that we have built for ourselves. Kindness and understanding are keys that will free us from our isolation. Fundamentally, people inside of prison and outside of prison have the same aspirations: to be happy, to live a meaningful life, to find peace and love.

People inside of prison and outside of prison have a lot to learn from each other, a lot to give each other.

We welcome you to join us in getting out of the prisons we live inside by opening hearts and minds, including our own!