HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS: Age 24! Birthday Blessings!

“You've been one extremely faithful source of support through these many years. I know that support personally, and so many women here (at WHV) have been affected by your prayers and the help you have given through the years. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” 

That message arrived at the HFP office as I was working on our birthday post for the blog site. It came from Karen Boes, now 69, who was convicted of felony murder by a jury in 2003. The state contended that she set fire to her house, a fire that claimed the life of her daughter. She was sentenced to life behind bars. She consistently claimed her innocence. For all these years I personally followed up on her case, especially after learning that junk science had been used to gain conviction. I still have the two-page letter from an arson expert with excellent credentials who informed me that she could not have set that fire. I stayed in touch with Karen, HFP supported her in any way possible, and I kept her in my prayers. 

Well, a lot has happened in our office since a little agency named INNOCENT was born on August 29, 2001.  We’ve moved from Grand Rapids, to Muskegon, to Grand Haven and finally to our own office condo in Spring Lake (debt-free!), and we changed our name to better reflect our mission of “action with compassion:” HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS. Our staff has grown from one part-timer to a team of five, including two staffers who have actually served time in prison! Our gang is assisted by some 30 volunteers. The fine people in our office handle more than 600 contacts every month. We’re adding hundreds of new clients to our work load, and our active client list has reached 5,000! We can proudly state that HFP has touched the lives of more than one third of all Michigan inmates! 

Meanwhile, almost nothing has happened in Karen’s cell…until now. For 22 years she’s been consistent in claiming innocence, persistent in seeking support, and faithful in her prayer life. Just recently she received a message that gave her new hope. The Michigan Court of Appeals has granted her a major victory: an evidentiary hearing that could result in a retrial that could possibly undo a life sentence! 

Just as we do when we receive encouraging reports from any of our 11,000+ clients, we celebrate. We praise God for progress. 

On HFP’s 24th birthday, we’re blessed to receive a message like that from Karen: “To know someone cares so vehemently of our welfare and needs carries such tremendous weight, as many in here have so very little support. It’s good to know someone cares.” 

We’re also blessed to receive messages like this from grateful prisoners every day! Your support makes that happen!

 "Give generously to them (prisoners)(my insert) and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to." Deuteronomy 15:10

 

 

 

 

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