HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HFP!
What a
birthday! Staggering statistics! Promising progress! Amazing accomplishments!
It was August
29, 2001, when I placed my signature on the bylaws of a new organization called
INNOCENT! My friend Maurice Carter, serving prison time for a crime he did not
commit, had been leaning on me for months, insisting that we needed to start an
organization that would help prisoners in situations similar to his. I rather
reluctantly agreed. A one man show.
I manned the
telephone and worked the cases on a part-time basis as I continued my
occupation as a seller of church organs. By 2004, my enthusiasm was on a roll. That
was the year that Maurice was freed, the year that Maurice died, and the year
that I moved into our first office and began this work on a full-time basis.
Time and
experience helped us fine-tune the organization, narrowing the scope to state
prisons in Michigan alone and widening our services to assist more than the
wrongly convicted. By 2008, it became apparent to our directors that a name
change was necessary. Humanity for Prisoners much more accurately
reflected our mission.
The word
quickly spread among prisoners: Someone cares! Records broken, year after year:
100 calls a month, then 200, 400, early this year 700, and right now---August,
2019, our birthday month---nearly 900! Response now provided by a team
of 5, several dedicated volunteers and a panel of professional advisers, with
all action originating right here in our very own quarters!
On this, our
18th birthday, I can think of no higher tribute than the words and
gifts of prisoners. We sent a thank you note this week to an inmate who donated
$12.00. That’s probably half of his monthly salary. A check came from another
guy last week: $15.00.
We’ve been
trying for ages to get a Public Hearing for Joe, who has served nearly 40 years:
HFP has been a really big part of my life over the
past 4 years and I am so very grateful for all that you've done for me. Now I
have an opportunity to put this prison life behind me and begin to rebuild my
life on the other side.
Bob has
terminal cancer…we sent our compassionate physician to see him a few days ago:
I once again thank all of you at Humanity for Prisoners. You all have lifted my spirits at a time that they were really low.
Finally, a prisoner
description of the HFP team:
In our world of loneliness and despair there is an
enormous need for men and women who know the heart of God, a heart that forgives,
cares, reaches out and wants to heal. In that heart there is no suspicion, no
vindictiveness, no resentment, and not a tinge of hatred.
Says the old
hymn writer: Little is much when God is in it.
Amen and
Amen!
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