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Programs
such as the House of Hope of Alachua County represent the
best of America, a spirit and generosity that terrorist attacks
cannot defeat, Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan said in Gainesville on
Thursday morning.
"There
are programs that work without government support. They work
based on the fact that average men and women are charitable,
generous and open their hearts and wallets to make certain
their fellow man is better off," he said. "When a tragedy
occurs, we are snapped back to the realization that what is
important in our lives is family, faith, friends and the opportunity
to live in a land where we can breathe clean air, worship
the God of our choice and be self-sufficient citizens."
Brogan
spoke at the third annual House of Hope prayer breakfast.
House of Hope is a Christian-oriented residential program
for recently released inmates.
The
first notice Brogan had of the attacks on Sept. 11 came around
9:45 a.m., about 45 minutes after the first of the World Trade
Center attacks. He was with President Bush while visiting
a Sarasota classroom.
rogan
said it is difficult to understand why terrorists target the
United States, whose freedoms are a beacon for people worldwide.
We
take for granted what people, on a regular basis, will give
up their lives to have," Brogan said. "We live in a land that
people are dying to get into, but no one is dying to get out
of.
"While
terrorists assault our buildings, Brogan said, they cannot
tear down the belief of Americans that the United States is
the best nation in the world.
He
said the country becomes stronger when people such as released
inmates are reclaimed by society and become productive citizens.
That's
why programs like House of Hope are important. Punishment
is one part of the corrections philosophy. Reclamation is
an important component as well," Brogan said. "We are diminished
as a society when we warehouse people and do not reach out
to those same people and try to help them reclaim their lives."
House
of Hope graduates also spoke at the breakfast, explaining
how the program changed their lives.
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