Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 4.26.23

We wish there were a way to convey to our friends on the outside just how important our just published book Ghosts Over the Boiler is to all of us. We wish you could have heard the various reactions all over the facility ranging from joy, gratitude, excitement and also sadness for the ones no longer with us but who are immortalized through their writings, drawings and for their participation. We were also amazed to be told that one can order our book published by Vanderbilt Press on Amazon! Talk about Big Time!! Thank you to all who made it happen especially our Advisory Board Member Dr. Katie Owens-Murphy!

More great news as far as getting the word about us out there is that we are about to launch a new and improved website. Although we may not get to see it we know that this is how people find us and learn about us. Our thanks to our Information Director and long time friend Brandon Fountain! An important feature about this new and improved website is that nothing will be lost from the old one because it is being transferred.

And yes, more good news! Dr. Katie Owens-Murphy met with a rep from JSTOR, basically a giant digital library for mostly academic research. They are currently launching an initiative to catalogue prison newspapers on a new data base called Reveal. They are interested in re-digitalizing all the issues of Wings of Hope which will allow for higher resolution of the newsletter and more searchable and they would develop teaching materials around the newsletter with which Dr. Katie Owens-Murphy will help!

Here is an invitation from our friends at EJUSA: Join us on the National Day of Prayer for a gathering of Christian leaders from across the country to spend time praying about the state and federal death penalty in our country. Together we will lament, find hope, and equip ourselves to prayerfully move toward being a nation where we break cycles of violence.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/…/reg…/WN_WOuMknp1QuyI0LAB4N5ZcQ

As always in closing, we thank all our generous donors who either gave by going to our website and using the “donate” button or who gave directly. Thank you also to all who took the time to read our notes, commented, liked and shared them on Facebook. You encourage us and make all the difference. Stay safe!                                                          

                                                                 Esther