22 years?

I’m quietly sitting here on the eve of HFP’s birthday. My wife Marcia, the wind beneath my wings through this project, is gone. Maurice Carter, the kind, gentle human being who insisted prisoners deserved humane treatment, is gone. I’m 86 and still here, but undeniably in my sunset years. And yet, as I reflect on it, HFP flourishes! 

I signed all the proper legal documents on August 29, 2001, but that didn’t mean much. The fledgling organization called INNOCENT was now legal, but its impact and its future were uncertain. 

Doug Tjapkes, church organ salesman who founded the agency, had to continue working in his day job. Marcia had groceries to buy and kids to feed. At a borrowed desk and a borrowed computer, I put up two web sites explaining our mission, and waited for reaction. 

It came in a heartbeat, and it took only minutes to learn that advocating for prisoners was an uphill climb. Friends and family wondered if I was goofy. Early board members nodded kindly, but quietly looked at each other. The first people to contact us were sadly disappointed. 

-A little Black girl asked me to get her ailing daddy out of prison so that he could die at home. I failed. 

-The father of a wrongly-convicted woman, accused of killing her husband (who had actually committed suicide) begged me for help. I could do nothing. 

-The mother of twins whose estranged husband took revenge against his former wife by accusing her of molestation of the babies, pleaded with me to help in some way. I failed. 

That’s the way HFP started. But it didn't end there. 

Our name change came in about 2008, when Board Chair Dr. Dan Rooks insisted that INNOCENT was the wrong name. We had found our niche. We were doing our best to help prisoners one-on-one with every day, in-prison issues, regardless of guilt or innocence. Healthcare, FOIA requests, family problems, finding loved ones. Michigan prisoners started getting the picture. Someone cared. 

Son Matt, who replaced me as CEO, adopted the phrase “You matter,” which was then conveyed to all HFP clients in all correspondence. It caught fire. Prisoners got the idea. Someone really did care! 

Fast forward to 2023. A new CEO, who formerly served time and was an HFP client. A devoted and diverse Board of Directors committed to the cause. Our own office building, occupied by a committed team of underpaid, overworked people who insist that persons behind bars are created in the image of God and deserve kindness and compassion. Amazing volunteers who ask for nothing in return. We are touching lives! 

I’m grateful. 

Incarcerated individuals in Michigan are exceptionally grateful. 

On HFP’s birthday, I extend our thanks to every person who has helped in the past, and to the many, many friends who continue to support this unique and impressive service. 

It was a God thing. 

Still is!

  

 

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