In 2000 Peggie Wells started working with Reach One Ministries in Charlotte, NC. Reach One ministered to women in the Broad River Women’s Facility, and it was here that Peggie developed a passion to work with women in incarceration. She began mentoring a number of the women she met. One of these women approached her one day to tell her she would soon be released and had nowhere to go. She asked Peggie for a place to stay. Over the next weeks two more women approached her with the same request.
Peggie realized that mentoring women in incarceration was important, but if these women had no place to go after release and no support structure then the likelihood of failing and the probability of being incarcerated again was very high. This was the beginning of Peggie’s journey to provide a place for these women. She developed a vision to provide a safe and secure place for these women and developed blueprints for what a transitional home should look like to best support these women.
Over the next 20 years, Peggie prepared herself for this mission by pursuing the education and training she felt she needed. In 2007, she received her Bachelors Degree in Sociology. In 2015, she received her Masters Degree in Social Work and became a licensed therapist. In 2021, she received her Masters of Divinity.
While pursuing her education, she continued to work with incarcerated women. In 2015, she founded The Wells Center for Women in Transition. She also developed a relationship and began working with the Forsyth Jail and Prison Ministries.