What breaks our hearts! What breaks your hearts?
Stories like this come across our desks every day, and break our hearts every day.
My son called tonight and
stated that a new inmate had been added to the veteran's unit in Saginaw
prison. He stated that the man has severe dementia and is needing help BAD. He is
74 years old. Today he walked around naked and voided all over himself, and didn’t
even know that he had done it. My son was told that the man was put in that
unit to protect himself from men in other units taking advantage of him.
Reacting to a report that
two lifers had passed away at Women’s Huron Valley, one of our friends wrote: It
is so unfortunate that WHV doesn’t even allow us to have any sort of memorial
service for our sisters.
In response to the death of a middle-aged resident of a Muskegon prion, a friend says: He was rushed to the hospital with flu-like symptoms. He had delayed going to health-care until it was too late. (This happens often, because of the unfortunate rule that prisoners face a $5 co-pay any time they go to health-care, when their salary may be as low as 80 cents a day!)
World Vision's founder Bob Pierce famously prayed, “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.”
One of the biggest challenges for HFP right now is how to break more hearts!
Here’s the situation. We’ve experienced record-breaking growth, but it has been one-sided. A prisoner thanked us profusely for our new reentry packet. But it doesn’t stop there. He tells others. A woman in Huron Valley expressed appreciation for our assistance in seeking a commutation. But it doesn’t stop there. She tells others. A guy sent us a note of gratitude from one of our state prisons for assisting him and his family with a request under the Freedom of Information Act. We help, because Michigan is one of the few states that won’t allow prisoners to file such requests. Again, it doesn’t stop there. He tells others.
Now it’s the turn of all those nice people who help and support us, whose prayers and encouragement mean so much to our team. Our growth behind bars has far exceeded our growth of support outside of bars. Please take a moment to tell others.
We’ve been highly successful in helping the incarcerated…the numbers prove that. Our new goals are on the side of support. We need more individuals, clubs, groups, churches, foundations…we need those who believe prisoners matter, and will do something about it.
Please, let us Speak up
for those who cannot speak for themselves…Proverbs 31:8
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