A message to our caring friends

 We are blessed to have your support! 

My message, on behalf of the HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS team, is extended to all who see that we meet our financial obligations day in and day out.

I felt this message was important after reading a recent newspaper story about giving in America. I learned, for example, that American adults under the age of 45 don’t feel like giving one cent to charity! 

Here’s what else the AP survey showed:

            -¾ said their household gave to a charitable organization;

            -¼ said their household made no donations;

            -4 in 10 support helping people in U.S. who need food, shelter, etc.;

            -4 in 10 donate to religious organizations; and

-The average one-time gift is around $121, and the average monthly gift is $25. 

The topic was of particular interest to our team because this is our only source of income. We survive because of donations, contributions, gifts and grants. Attracting support is not an easy job, either, because, referring to the survey results above, HFP does not provide food or shelter, and HFP is not a religious organization. 

Raising money to feed and clothe people, rescue dogs and cats, or support religious causes is one thing. Raising money to help incarcerated men and women with their personal in-prison issues is another thing. And that’s an understatement! 

While HFP is not a faith-based organization, that does not mean that our work is not Christlike. That’s why I can identify with these quotes from one of my favorite theologians: 

Fund-raising is precisely the opposite of begging. When we seek to raise funds we are not saying, ‘Please, could you help us out because lately it’s been hard.’ Rather, we are declaring, ‘We have a vision that is amazing and exciting. We are inviting you to invest yourself through the resources that God has given you—your energy, your prayers, and your money—in this work to which God has called us.’ Our invitation is clear and confident because we trust that our vision and mission are like ‘trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither’ (Ps. 1:3).”  

 When Jesus fed five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish, he was showing us how God’s love can multiply the effects of our generosity (see Matt. 14:13-21).”

-Henri Nouwen 

Regular donors, occasional donors, those donors who can only afford a small gift, those donors who have the means to provide major grants…they are ALL there for us, and for Michigan’s incarcerated men and women. If the survival of HFP depended on that one certain segment of Americans, we wouldn’t make it. Sincere thanks to all whose assistance ensures our uninterrupted service and growth in this amazing work. Our 24-year-old agency has now touched the lives of more than one-third of all prisoners in our state! 

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." - John Wesley

 

 

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