My WHY ...

We Often try to affect a Positive Change on the Youth as Prevention, but what happens when prevention Fails?

  This question often goes unanswered often.  Many of our young males are incarcerated in the U. S. Prison System and very surprisingly, they are locked away and someone has thrown away the key.  No family visits, no phone calls, no funds deposited for basic needs, its like they disappeared.

About 2 years ago, the justice system came very close to home for me.  A family member, whom had never been in any trouble before, made a choice that altered the lives of everyone in our family.  This young father of two had experienced some severe hardships and in one moment of desperation, attempted to rob a convenience store with a broken BB gun.  The harsh reality of his crime, to which he immediately confess, produced a prison sentence of 12 years with out parole. He was lucky.  

I could fill this post with statistics of our young men in prison, where their childhood,  parents, society didn't offer them enough or how Education and Prevention were in place but didn't work BUT - that's not what this is about....This is about what happens Afterwards.....

There are many young men incarcerated in our prison system that are like my family member, made a life altering choice or were in the wrong place at the wrong time - let me give you a REAL EXAMPLE - 

There is a young man in a Georgia prison right now today, that was a passenger in a vehicle when his friends went into a convenience store and with a BB gun, robbed it.  In Georgia, this carries a mandatory, minimum sentence of 10 years with out parole - but most offenders are GIVEN LIFE SENTENCES.  The young man I am speaking of was 18 years old and given a sentence of 100 years! 

SO, WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ME  or 

YOU ASK?

I recently visited my family member at the prison he will serve majority of his sentence.  On this particular day, the Warden granted a specific group of inmates a Family Day.  These men are striving to make themselves better by changing their mindset through the programs offered by the prison.  I was struck by sadness as I saw 80% of the men in this program had no family members there to support them. I was amazed to see so many YOUNG MEN - age 18 to 22, with no one. 

So I asked Why?  I was told that a large number of these young men were first time offenders of crimes like drug trafficking, armed robbery, or cases of being with the wrong crowd.  They never had visitors, phone calls from moms or family, or funds for basic needs like food, bathing soap, or writing paper. How do they survive I asked.  This is where trouble comes in.  In prison there is a unknown or unpopular culture of survival of the fittest.  These young men literally have to beg, borrow, steal, fight or become a stronger inmates' sexual slave to barter for  items they can not afford through the prisons' very lucrative "store".  Prisons are big business, from JPAY phone  services, to sundry items purchased through the commissary.  My family member is lucky, blessed, because he still has a supportive family on the outside....but what of these "90's babies" as the seasoned inmates call the men that will walk the walls of these facilities for the rest of their days. 

SO  - I had an idea - what if I took my Luxury Touch Sheets business, that does very well for FUNDRAISERS,  and ANONYMOUSLY helped some of these young men. Its true, they must accept the sentence for their crime, but,  everyone deserved to be cared for.

Your participation in this fundraiser will give you a quality product - while improving a young man's quality of life in prison.  One mistake does not measure the man, its the lesson he learns afterward that proves his worth.