Lunch with the League: Dismas House and the South Bend Community Re-Entry Center
March 8 at 12pm on Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89964330458?pwd=MEJmU0xmc3l2R0JrZlEydmJtNDVudz09
Speakers: Maria Stancati, Executive Director, Dismas House; and Maria Kaczmarek, former Executive Director of Dismas House and Community Involvement Assistant for the South Bend Community Re-Entry Center
The speakers will share with us what their work entails and discuss their organizations' history and future plans.
Speakers’ Bios:
Maria Stancati has lived on South Bend's west side her whole life. She received her BA in English Literature from St. Mary’s of Orchard Lake in Detroit, an MS in Communications from Purdue, and nearly completed the MA in Special Education before her life took a sharp turn. In 2009 she was sentenced to Rockville Correctional Facility for one year and then to Dismas House from August 2010-November 2011. When she graduated from Dismas House she joined the Board and volunteered. In 2014 she became Program Director and in 2018 was promoted to Executive Director of Dismas House.
Maria Kaczmarek graduated from South Bend’s Riley High School before earning a BA in Fine Arts from IU Bloomington. Maria has always worked in not-for-profit organizations, including 17 years working for several Girl Scout councils across the country. Returning to Indiana in 1992, Ms. Kaczmarek turned her attention from cookies to prisons. She served as the Executive Director of Dismas House for 22 years, retired for a short time, and then returned to work as a Community Involvement Assistant for the South Bend Re-Entry Center. She facilitates the men’s groups in the program encouraging engagement in the arts through Civic Theatre, SB Symphony, Broadway League, Notre Dame and other opportunities along with service work in the community.