Season's Greetings

Season’s Greetings, Dear Friends,

I want to thank each of you who have supported the Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing; be it by word of mouth, forwarding links and posts, donating resources, joining us on Journeys or keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

You inspire me.

It has been over a year since I have written a fundraising letter for the Journey of Hope. It is one of my least favorite things to do, but the time has come. It is the season, and we have a reason.

 
Since I last wrote the Journey of Hope has accomplished much, thanks to your generous support.

 We were able to send a team of twelve powerful speakers for the 2010 Texas Journey of Hope in October where we spoke in high schools, colleges and churches. David Kaczynski, Bud Welch, Shujaa Graham, Marietta Jaeger Lane, Ron Carlson, Curtis McCarty, Bess Klassen/Landis, Sandrine Ageorges Skinner (France), Bill Babbitt, George White and Terri Steinberg formed a great team that I was proud to be part of.

 Activists Angela Grobben and Jasmine Jenni (Switzerland), Gilles Denizot (Germany), Hilda Koppenburg  (France), Bob Lane and Kathy Harris joined others including special guest speaker Margo Van Sluytman (Canada) and our wonderful Journey Troubadours Charlie King and Karen Brandow to help make this a very memorable Journey event.

 We traveled to Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin where we joined Scott Cobb’s 11th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty on our final full day of the Journey. The march also featured six exonerees from the Witness to Innocence program. Together our banners led the march to the State Capital on that Saturday afternoon.
The Journey of Hope proclaimed that same Saturday to be Greg Wilhoit Day. We reserved a room at a barbeque restaurant where we had a nice meal and a beautiful closing program for the Texas Journey. We recognized Greg’s mom and dad, his sister Nancy and his wife Judy. They drove from Oklahoma to Austin to see Greg honored. Greg is a walking miracle and it was an honor for the Journey to confirm our deepest respect to him on this special day. He was presented a beautiful plaque.

We were at the KAIROS conference in Atlanta last November and in January were at the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s annual conference in Chicago. Coincidence, hard work and a little bit of luck allowed us to celebrate Illinois’s abolition of the death penalty that coincided with the beginning of our conference.

 The Journey had a workshop at the 3rd Annual Restorative Justice Conference in North Carolina in June, thanks to our own Lisa Rea, an expert in the restorative justice field who organized and moderated the panel. We were at the Alternative Spring Break in Austin and the 18thAnnual Fast and Vigil at the US Supreme Court in DC.
We had a Journey of Hope in Mississippi and a Journey of Hope in Spain. Our feature event this year was the African Journey of Hope. We answered a request from Ugandan death row exoneree Edward Edmary Mpagi to help him in Uganda in his struggle against the death penalty

Plans quickly came together as we made our trip to Africa coincide with the October 10th “World Day Against the Death Penalty” a project of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Doors opened for us to continue on to Rwanda and Kenya. To me the whole trip was a miracle in the making.

I want to go back Africa with a documentary crew. What we saw was not only “ life” changing for us, but the lessons that can be learned from these third world countries are mind boggling and they need to be captured on film. Things like a warden hugging a death row inmate. We saw it happen. And we know how and why it happened and we want to be able to document it for the world to see. It is history in the making. I would like to give a special thanks to Bill Babbitt, Randy Gardner and Charity Lee for joining me on that amazing Journey.

 
November 30th is “Cities for Life”; a project of the Rome, Italy based Community of Sant Egidio. Sant Egidio is a wonderful NGO (i.e. nonprofit) that deserves to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Their communities host Journey of Hope speakers each year throughout Europe and the rest of the world for 7-14 day speaking tours. In 2010 I was sent to Northern Italy and spoke in Navarro, Pavia, Cuneo, Sestri Lavante and Turin. I have been to Italy 20 times now for the cause of abolition, half of those trips thanks to Sant Egidio. I just returned from a 2011 “Cities for Life” tour in Germany where I spoke to hundreds of high school and college students as I traveled to Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Wurzburg and Monchengladbach.

 Art Laffin, Shujaa Graham, Marietta Jaeger Lane, Bud Welch, Sunny Jacobs, Peter Pringle, Rais Bhuiyan, Curtis McCarty, Juan Melendez, Susan Bosler, George White, Delbert Tibbs, Ron Carlson and many other Journey speakers have been guests of the Sant Egidio Community
The Journey continues to make a difference around the world.

 
Our web site has gone through a major upgrade this year and we are not done yet. Much thanks to Gilles Denizot and Jasmine Jenni. Check our site http://links.causes.com/s/clzd8c and see the great work that has been done. Learn more about who we are and what we do. Please feel free to Google names I have listed so you can know the wonderful people who are associated with the Journey of Hope.

What’s next for the Journey of Hope?
That is up to you!!!

Once again I would like to say “Season’s Greetings to you and all of your loved ones.”
Speaking of the holiday season, I am making a list for Santa Claus and telling him what I am hoping for in 2012.

1. The Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing will conduct an Alabama Journey between January 5th and February 7th. This will be our first 5 week Journey. I hope it will be successful.

2. The Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing will conduct a Mississippi Journey next June that will culminate with the MS United Methodist Church Annual Conference in Jacksonville.

 
3. The Journey will go to Washington, DC for an area wide Journey Hope that will culminate with the 19th Annual Fast and Vigil in front of the US Supreme Court June 29-July 2. June 29, 2012 will mark the 40th Anniversary of the Furman decision that temporarily stopped the death penalty in this country. The Journey has been a key part of each fast and vigil since its inception.

 
4. Journey of Hope board member Randy Gardner will start a Journey Chapter in Utah. We will launch our initial chapter with a Utah Journey of Hope in the fall.

5. In October the Journey will join Charity Lee and The Ella Foundation for “Healing and Reconciliation” week that will feature a Texas Journey of Hope from Violence to Healing campaign, a Healing and Reconciliation conference and a Stop the Violence Community Outreach Event.

6. If California is successful in getting a death penalty abolition bill on the ballet, we will do a Journey of Hope to California for the 17 days leading up to the election in November to help educate, educate, educate. We can win in California.

7. To again be involved in the Annual Restorative Justice Conference.

 
8. Cities for Life will continue to call Journey speakers to share the message of love and compassion for all of humanity. I always keep November 30th clear for the Sant Egidio Community.

9. The Journey will again show our affiliate support at the NCADP conference that place in the DC area next August.

10. The Journey will be involved again with the WCADP’s “World Day” events and join their annual conference to show our continued support as an affiliate.

 
11. The Journey of Hope will be adding two more board members. Since the Journey of Hope is led by murder victim family members, our bylaws require that the majority of our board members be murder victim family members. At present we have seven members but are looking to expand to nine. One new board member must be a murder victim family member and the other member does not have to be. We need help from someone who can assist us in one or more of the following areas; social media skills, computer skills, fundraising abilities or organizational talents. Let me know if you are interested or if you know of someone who might be. The Journey welcomes Rais Bhuiyan, Jo Berry and Randy Gardner, all new board members this year. George White (Journey Ambassador, cofounder, former chair) has rejoined the board which also includes Rick Halperin (Mr. Abolition), Lisa Rea, and me. I am surrounded by 6 great people.

 
I have shared with you my Santa wish list for the Journey next year. Santa always needs helpers and with your help all of these things can happen. The Journey of Hope receives no grants and has no paid staff. All work is done by volunteers who support our mission and your contribution goes directly to abolishing the death penalty. As we educate for abolition, we plant the seeds of love and compassion for all of humanity. We promote forgiveness for healing and as a way of life.
From Violence to Healing is our mantra.

Some people donate their time, others donate financially. Frequent flyer miles are also a great way to help. You still have a chance to make year-end donation. The Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.

 
Thanks so much, a Stop the Violence Community Outreach Event
Happy New Year,
Peace,

Bill Pelke, President, Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing http://links.causes.com/s/clzd8c