Tomorrow Night: Fighting for Life in the Death Belt

Family Reunification and Parole Preparation Workshop 4/23 BHAM

Register now for this Saturday’s Family Reunification and Parole Preparation Workshop!

Donate to AWRN for Chance to Win Prizes!

Dear Family and Friends:

I’m writing you today to ask that you help Alabama Women’s Resource Network (AWRN) become a big winner by donating on our behalf to the Birdies for Charity fundraiser sponsored by the Regions Tradition. AWRN will receive every single penny of your generous donation on our behalf!

When you donate to AWRN, you are donating to an organization who works overtime to sustainably reduce women’s imprisonment by removing barriers to services that will expand women’s opportunities for safety and success. On a shoestring budget, AWRN’s efforts have managed to save Alabama taxpayers over $4.93 million dollars and counting. Just imagine how much more we can do with your donation.

Your donations give you a chance to win great prizes each and every Friday before the tournament. Great prizes such as restaurant gift certificates, tickets to local sporting events, and even a $1,000 gift certificate to Diamonds Direct are just a donation away! Simply make a pledge of $0.02 or more per birdie (estimated 800 birdies based on past tournaments) or make a flat pledge of $15 or more.

Regions Tradition is also giving you the chance to “Guess the Birdies” that will be made during the tournament by the Champions Tour Players! The donors who guess the correct amount of birdies are entered into a drawing to win the “Stay & Play Package” at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, FL, including:

• a three-day, two-night stay at the Renaissance Resort Hotel here in World Golf Village
• a round of golf for two at either Slammer & Squire or King & Bear golf courses
• a 1/2 hour golf lesson for two at the PGA TOUR Academy here in World Golf Village
• two tickets for the World Golf Hall of Fame and the IMAX Theater

And one more thing to sweeten the deal – anyone making a donation on our behalf of $100 or above is automatically entered to win FOUR weekly grounds passes to the tournament valued at $380. This is a great gift opportunity for the golf fans in your life!

Donate online today!

Thanks in advance for your support,

Alabama Women’s Resource Network

Donate your books!

From Kyes Stevens:

Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project Help needed: I need books of poetry to take into one of the women’s prisons for their meager reading library. Send me a few off your shelf, or if you feel so inclined, go to amazon and send us some used copies. If you don’t want to bother with that, send us $10 bucks and I will buy some. Thanks all.

Kyes Stevens, Director
Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project
Mailing Address: 226 Thach Hall
Auburn University, AL 36849-5214
Office Location: 103 Thach
Office: 334.844.8946
Mobile Number: 334.703.6854
Fax: 334.844.4447
www.auburn.edu/apaep

Please visit the new awrn.org

Hi!

If you have reached this page through a web search, please know that AWRN has a new website at awrn.org. Please visit awrn.org to find out about our work and services.

“Baby Bill” is bogus

Hi Everyone,

 

Disturbing news today–The Sand Mountain Reporter is reporting that the Marshall County Assistant DA and the local legislative delegation are dropping a bill to up the ante on prosecuting women who use substances while pregnant by expanding the definition of the word child to include a fetus.

 

Needless to say this is exactly why AWRN has been tackling these senseless prosecutions.  It is scary (SCARY) to think that D.A.s and judges now get to make medical decisions for all of us with no medical training whatsoever.  The debate over fetus and child is a red herring to divide us on the true issue which is what is best for women, pregnancies, and babies.  The answer is always going to be treatment over jail, prison, financial punishment, etc.  There is absolutely no way someone can make a legitimate (or logical) statement that expanding the possibility of prosecuting pregnant women and new mothers is good, nor that some expansion magically makes treatment available. 

 

Do not let this piece of legislation coopt terminology from the abortion debate and apply it to a situation many women find themselves in that does not inherently have an abortion element to it; rather, many women are struggling to overcome substance use and be mothers.  This is only done to divide us and politicize a public health and maternal issue that can be solved completely outside of entering yet another debate on the definition of a child.  Simply put, women need greater and expanded access to treatment and their pregnancies also deserve to be spared the destruction of incarceration.  AWRN has actually worked with women in this situation unlike those who villanize women from afar from not being able to overcome what is a disease by themselves.  All of the women charged under this law are very young.  These prosecutions are wrong and to think that someone is seeking an expansion of prosecutions is not just unconscionable it is an expression of complete carelessness and disregard for babies, for pregnancies, and for women.  Period.

 

Shame on Marshall County legislators and the DA office for thinking so very little of women, of pregnancies, and of babies.

 

New awrn.org

Hi Everyone,

In the days ahead there may be some interruption on the site as AWRN’s new website is launched.  The new webpage will have some placeholders for content that is not quite ready.  Still, we hope you will click around the new site and see what all AWRN can do for you and your family, as well as AWRN’s advocacy work and campaigns.

Thank you for supporting the women and families AWRN serves.

Upcoming Parole Workshops in Birmingham and Anniston

Let AWRN help you and your family prepare for an upcoming parole hearing in Alabama.

Through our Family Reunification and Parole Preparation Workshops, AWRN is able to empower families to truly understand the parole hearing opportunity and to plan for family reintegration in a safe and supportive space. Download the calendar of upcoming workshops (click here) to find out when one will be held in your area.

The workshops offer tools and resources to assist families (or practitioners) in:

• Helping a loved one reintegrate back into society and the family
• Understanding the parole process, including the parole hearing itself
• Developing a comprehensive reentry plan with a loved one
• Locating community resources

The $45 registration fee* for the workshop includes: 6.5 hours of interactive instruction with two trained facilitators; comprehensive guidebook; a 99-day reentry planning journal for the loved one in prison; and breakfast and lunch.

What past participants are saying:

“I would recommend that all loved ones of inmates attend this workshop.”

“This workshop should be provided to all reentry personnel.”

“The workshop was very informative and the presenters are very good!”

“I appreciate your service, your deep concern, and you made me feel comfortable.”

Register any of the following ways (advanced registration required):

1. Online (click the location and date you prefer):

Birmingham, January 22nd Registration

Anniston, January 29th Registration

Huntsville, February 19th Registration

2. By Mail:

Download the Registration Form (click here)

3. By Phone:

Call AWRN at (205) 916-0135 ext. 501 to register

*Please note that AWRN must charge for the workshops to sustain their availability. Any funds remaining support AWRN’s free programming for women in prison.

Vigils for Leroy White

Dear friends,

The state of Alabama has announced that it will execute Leroy White three days from today, on Thursday, January 13.

Our group Justice and Mercy for All (JAM) is sponsoring two vigils in Birmingham on that Thursday.

Political Protest

Where: Corner of Richard Arrington Blvd and 8th Street N at the East end of the Birmingham Museum of Art

Time: 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM (you are welcome to come for all or part of the time). JAM has plenty of signs so there is no need to bring your own unless you want to.

Parking: Convenient parking is found under I-20/59 behind the Museum of Art.
This vigil will be held even if there is a stay of execution.

Prayer Service

Where: Dr. Martin Luther King statue at Kelly Ingram Park across from the Civil Rights Institute corner of 6th Ave N and 16th St N

Time: 5:45 PM to 6:15 PM

Parking: Plentiful parking is found on either of the cross streets
This vigil will not be held if there is a stay of execution.

We invite you to join us for either or both of these vigils.

Thank you for your opposition to the death penalty.

Cordially,

Fisher Humphreys

_________________________
JAM (Justice and Mercy for All)
Mary’s House
2107 Avenue G
Birmingham, Alabama 35218
205.780.2020

Upcoming Parole Preparation Workshops: Birmingham, Anniston

Let AWRN help you and your family prepare for an upcoming parole hearing in Alabama.

Through our Family Reunification and Parole Preparation Workshops, AWRN is able to empower families to truly understand the parole hearing opportunity and to plan for family reintegration in a safe and supportive space. Download the calendar of upcoming workshops (click here) to find out when one will be held in your area.

The workshops offer tools and resources to assist families (or practitioners) in:

• Helping a loved one reintegrate back into society and the family
• Understanding the parole process, including the parole hearing itself
• Developing a comprehensive reentry plan with a loved one
• Locating community resources

The $45 registration fee* for the workshop includes: 6.5 hours of interactive instruction with two trained facilitators; comprehensive guidebook; a 99-day reentry planning journal for the loved one in prison; and breakfast and lunch.

What past participants are saying:

“I would recommend that all loved ones of inmates attend this workshop.”

“This workshop should be provided to all reentry personnel.”

“The workshop was very informative and the presenters are very good!”

“I appreciate your service, your deep concern, and you made me feel comfortable.”

Register any of the following ways (advanced registration required):

1. Online (click the location and date you prefer):

Birmingham, January 22nd Registration

Anniston, January 29th Registration

2. By Mail:

Download the Registration Form (click here)

3. By Phone:

Call AWRN at (205) 916-0135 ext. 501 to register

*Please note that AWRN must charge for the workshops to sustain their availability. Any funds remaining support AWRN’s free programming for women in prison.