By Heidi Gross
The new Death Row Support Project (DRSP) Team started their work in January, upon the retirement of founder and former director Rachel Gross. One change the team has made is in the process for writers to connect with pen pals on death row. The team invites anyone interested in writing to someone on death row to attend an informational session on Zoom.
The DRSP Team includes:
— Rachel Caidor of Chicago, Ill., who writes to someone in Florida whose sentence was recently commuted from death to life.
— Tara Collum of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose current pen pals are in Florida, Texas, and Louisiana.
— Heidi Gross of Chicago, Ill., who writes to someone in Alabama whose sentence was commuted from a death sentence to a life sentence.
— Dina Milito of Sunnyvale, Calif., whose death row pen pals are in California, Texas, and Florida.
— Tim Reed of North Manchester, Ind., who is writing to people on death row in Alabama and Ohio, and one in Florida whose sentence was recently commuted to life.
The online informational session, which is offered at three different times, will go over some basics of how this project works, introduce members of the team who are here to support writers, and talk about expectations of DRSP writers. If this feels like a good fit and you want to proceed, a quick online form will be available to help match you with a pen pal. Within a few days, you will receive via email the name and address of your new pen pal, as well as some tips on how to get started writing.
Dates, times, and links for the informational session:
Monday, March 18, 8-9 p.m. (Eastern time)
https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/92847329668
Meeting ID: 928 4732 9668
Saturday, April 6, 2-3 p.m. (Eastern time)
https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/93883179755
Meeting ID: 938 8317 9755
Thursday, April 25, 8-9 p.m. (Eastern time)
https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/91338648253
Meeting ID: 913 3864 8253
If you aren’t able to attend any of the upcoming informational sessions but would like to be on a list to be notified when new dates are scheduled, please email drsp@brethren.org or sign up at www.brethren.org/drsp to be notified of upcoming sessions.
— Heidi Gross is a member of the new DRSP Team and also serves on the staff of Brethren Press.
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