Dear
Friends and Supporters of Witness to Innocence:
Over
the years I have been asked to write a hundred or more fundraising letters on
behalf of many worthy organizations and causes.
I’ve said “yes” to many of these requests and “no” to a handful. To be truthful, sometimes writing such a
letter is a joyous task… and sometimes it is a dutiful chore. When Terry Rumsey,
the Interim Executive Director of Witness to Innocence, contacted me recently and asked me to write a
few words and sign my name to a letter asking good folks to make a financial
gift to Witness to Innocence, I actually thanked
him. Why? I was thankful that
Terry trusted me to find the right words that might inspire someone to write a
check – or click on a link on the WTI Web site – for a unique group that I
cherish with all my heart.
I
admit I feel something akin to a maternal instinct for an organization that was
born within our Moratorium Campaign back in 2003 and operated under our fiscal
sponsorship until 2009, when it spread its wings and became an independent
organization. Think of that, my
friends. An independent organization
composed of and led by exonerated death row survivors. These were innocent men (and one remarkable
woman) who were once branded as monsters, shackled, banished to isolation
cells, and wrapped in the cloak of death.
Now, some of them are board members, some are staff members, and all of
them are proud members of a change-making organization that has earned the
respect of people across the nation and around the world.
It
is not, however, based on a shred of sentimentality that I am asking you to
make a generous monetary gift to Witness to Innocence. This is a professional organization that is
getting the job done! Witness to
Innocence played a decisive role in the recent campaigns that abolished the
death penalty in New Mexico (2009) and in Illinois (2011). Both Governor Richardson of New Mexico and
Govern Quinn of Illinois cited the moral weight of wrongful capital convictions
as the primary reasons why they
signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in their respective states. A recent national
poll revealed that the risk of executing
an innocent person was the most convincing argument for abolishing the death
penalty in the United States.
We need these brave souls who faced wrongful execution to continue
to speak truth to power, and we need their organization to continue its
wonderful job of assembling, inspiring, organizing, and supporting them to be
that powerful voice for truth in our society.
Please visit the Witness to
Innocence Web site at www.witnesstoinnoce.org to make a donation online. All financial gifts are tax-deductible.
In closing, let me express my thanks
to you for taking the time to read
this appeal and for sharing my passion for the amazing work of America’s
exonerated death row survivors and Witness to Innocence.
Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ
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