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!

  

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half-a-race!

The HFP Drag-Racing Fund-Raiser had the potential of being extremely successful, and could have raised several thousand dollars. Let's just say it was partly successful. For background purposes I'll explain that I was racing a 1963 supercharged Studebaker Lark that has a reputation of being one of the fastest stock Studebakers in drag racing today. The engine was built by one of the finest Studebaker engine mechanics in the country, and the car many times has achieved quarter-mile runs in less than 14 seconds! We promised to make at least ten passes in the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, this past weekend, and we asked for pledges ONLY ON THOSE RUNS REACHED IN LESS THAN 14 SECONDS. On Friday, here's how we fared: Run #1 13.936 @ 101.24 mph Run #2 14.027 @ 101.30 mph Run #3 14.091 @ 100.88 mph Run #4 13.805 @ 102.84 mph Run #5 14.058 @ 101.26 mph By the 5th run we discovered that
Read more

Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w
Read more

Three lives, connected by a divine thread

My kids say it should be a book! The Doug, Pat and Mark story is a doozie!   About 25 years ago, while fighting to free Maurice Carter from prison, I read a newspaper column written by Pat Shellenbarger of the Grand Rapids Press on the topic of eyewitness identification. I contacted Pat re that story. That led to a friendship between Doug and Pat that continues to this day.   In subsequent months, Pat would go on to assist me in an investigation into the Maurice Carter case that eventually led to solving the crime.  That particular episode became a chapter in my book about the Carter case, SWEET FREEDOM, published in 2006.   Fast forward to 2009, A New York businessman claims wrongful conviction, and while serving time in a Michigan prison is handed a copy of my book. Mark Hartman, who was also convicted in Berrien County, was amazed at the similarity of these two stories and tried to reach out to me. His letters bounced.   Persisting in his efforts to contact the author, Mark
Read more