Charlottesville, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Chaplain Joseph Varaksa, the senior chaplain for Good News Global, is gearing up for the organization’s annual breakfast event at Portico Church on May 3rd. “It’s a free event, and we’ll take an offering at the end. There will be music and then we have a guest speaker,” Varaksa said during an interview on Morning News. The event kicks off at 9 a.m., but attendees are encouraged to arrive by 8:30 a.m. for breakfast. 

Good News Global is making a significant impact in the local community through its work with inmates at the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail. Varaksa highlighted the organization’s focus on women, explaining that about 20% of the jail’s population is female. “We have a female program called the wind program right now that’s dedicated for the female population,” Varaksa shared. “we’re trying to equip them in a lot of ways, but just knowing that their worth and value is special.” 

In addition to helping women, Good News Global works with young men in the jail who are struggling due to a lack of positive male role models. “The challenge is not only for women mentor women, but really for men to start mentoring younger men,” Varaksa said. He emphasized that mentorship is essential, particularly for young men who are trying to overcome difficult circumstances and avoid falling back into the patterns that brought them to jail in the first place.  

For more information about the organization’s annual breakfast event, interested attendees can contact Chaplain Varaksa at chapv123@gmail.com.  

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