Meet Cassie Hanson | Reentry Operations Director for Benevolence Farm

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cassie Hanson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cassie, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Benevolence Farm is a nonprofit organization based in Graham, NC which seeks to cultivate leadership, promote sustainable livelihoods, and reap structural change for individuals impacted by the criminal justice system in North Carolina. Our flagship program — transitional housing and employment — provides a space for women returning home from prison and jail to process, heal, and prepare for what’s next in a rural setting surrounded by nature.

Residents are employed through our social enterprise and are paid $15/hour while they live onsite and focus on their reentry; we create and sell fragrance and body care products online (and locally in-person, if you live near Alamance County). These products are made from flowers and herbs grown on our horticultural farm. Residents grow, tend, harvest, and dry these flowers and herbs, prepare ingredients for product creation, create the products using in-house recipes, and then label, pack, and ship our products nationwide. The proceeds of these sales come full circle, as they are put right back into resident wages.

While we create our products with pride and genuinely love them, we are even more proud of what our business has to offer our clients. The act of horticultural farming in nature is therapeutic for our clients, who are often people experiencing complex trauma as the result of incarceration. They also have an opportunity to experience ownership and agency over the creation of something from start to finish, which is immensely impactful on their self-confidence. As they work with us, they also learn job readiness through trainings and one-on-ones with our Farm Enterprise Manager, Mona, who helps them develop myriad skills from basic math to conflict resolution. Our workshop is much more than just a small business; it’s a lab for healing and community care among people who are healing from a long period of trauma.

If you’re interested in purchasing any of our products, you can find them at https://shopsecondchances.us/

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am the Reentry Operations Director for Benevolence Farm. We are a nonprofit organization based in Graham, NC which seeks to cultivate leadership, promote sustainable livelihoods, and reap structural change for individuals impacted by the criminal justice system in North Carolina. Our flagship program — transitional housing and employment — provides a space for women returning home from prison and jail to process, heal, and prepare for what’s next in a rural setting surrounded by nature.

My role with BF is the supervision of our housing program. I carry out the interview process for prospective residents while they are still incarcerated, oversee day-to-day maintenance of the house and resident wellness, and also do case management for all of our residents at the farm.

I came from a background in classical music. I wasn’t able to work in 2020 during lockdown, and was anxious to find ways to spend my time, so I found myself volunteering at a community food pantry during the week. I really loved the work, and eventually made the shift into direct service in late 2021. I’m a great poster-person for the saying, “There’s no harm in asking.” I was hired to do part-time admin work with BF because I sent an email with my resume to our ED, Kristen Powers, and told her that I really liked the organization’s mission and wanted to help out if they needed someone. She took a huge gamble hiring me, as someone with no prior experience in the field, and I’m extremely grateful that she did. My big break into reentry work was a charmed one, for sure!

From doing part-time admin, I gradually started to spend more time with residents, and the work I shared with our Reentry Director at the time started to blend together as we built trust together. I found I really loved working with our residents, hearing their stories and trying to find solutions to their problems together. Our previous Reentry Director transitioned away from the organization in 2022, and I started taking on more roles in reentry management, until I eventually came to my current role. I can honestly say that I love my job and working with the people at Benevolence Farm!

I think one difficult lesson I have had to learn (and am still learning) in direct service is that we are incapable of fixing every problem or filling every need our clients have. I had a very romanticized and unrealistic visualization of what working with my clients should be like, where they come to us with a series of goals and problems, all of those are met and achieved while they are with us, and the client leaves fully self-actualized. The reality is: clients come to us in different stages of their lives, and we are not their destination, but rather, a stop along the way. Keeping the perspective that I am a step in the journey of my clients has been crucial to my actions as a case manager, and has enabled me to focus more on connected my clients with a network of sustainable care, rather than trying to get from point A to point B in the short time they are with us.

I’m really proud of our little program. For only have four staff members, we show a lot of love and care to the people who come through the program. Reentry is often depicted as a struggle, and while the challenges are definitely there, reentry can be such a joyful thing to witness. Our clients bring me joy all the time, and I feel very privileged to get to work with them.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Alamance County has a lot of beautiful nature trails! I think I would take them to Cedar Rock Park for a hike, or maybe we could go kayaking at the Haw River or Lake Michael. I’d show them Saxapahaw, which is a small town by the river with lots of art, small businesses, and nature to enjoy. I’d take them to Alamance Arts to see some of our local art history, and we could visit the African American Cultural Arts and History Center to learn even more about our regional history. I’ve always wanted to see a play at the Snow Camp Outdoor Theatre, so maybe we could do that. Liberty Acres Animal Haven is nearby, so we could go see some beautiful animals as well.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My most constant mentor in this field has been my boss, Kristen Powers, who is the Executive Director of Benevolence Farm. I come from a background in classical music, and made a hard career change quite suddenly into reentry work. Kristen has been a patient and steady hand in guiding me through this field, and I know my colleagues at the farm would all say the same thing. None of us would be in this work if Kristen hadn’t taken a chance on us, and built a culture of exceptional kindness and justice within our organization.

I think often in my work about other activists when I am searching for solutions. There are many, but three that come to mind often are Angela Davis, Thich Nhat Hanh, and James Baldwin. I am astounded by their grace in the face of immense adversity, and find the calm in which they have considered life and pursued justice to be a huge source of inspiration. It reminds me that revolution is not just a series of acts, but a lifestyle, It takes constant observation, reflection, self-transformation, and effort to enact change, and sometimes I forget that.

Website: https://benevolencefarm.org

Instagram: @BenevolenceFarm

Facebook: Benevolence Farm