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It is so very hard to put into words what the help like what you just provided means in so many lives. Helping people that many of you don’t even know. We hope that by putting this extra edition of our newsletter together, it will at least show you a fraction of the gratitude from the men whose life you have touched in a way none of us will ever be able to comprehend. Extra thanks and appreciation to the Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee for being a second collection point for donations. Again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts from all of us in FDRAG.
Please allow us to share a little of what we do in our every day life in FDRAG. These are Emails inside the group, all concerning men on Death Row.
August 5th: 2004
I got some good news.
If you recall - I got a letter from a man who was so worried about his little grandmother in Tennessee who was hot and not doing too well. And some of you helped to raise money to buy her a window unit!
What I did was, I contacted a Wal-Mart in Hendersonville, and explained the situation to them- they in return promised to put the unit aside -
I then got in touch with a catholic church and a very nice man who immediately went out to see how she was and what she needed. I then sent him a money order to go buy the unit for her and install it.
This nice man called me yesterday, to tell me the unit was in the little lady's house, he also told me that when he got to Wal-Mart half the store knew about the little lady and how she got her window unit, so he was getting his share of the joy too. Of course the woman was thrilled too, and I had told him to tell her the unit was from her grandson....
The way God works...
Sincerely
August 13th.2004
Hey all: Just wanted to share this and thank all of you for helping in making it happen.
" I love you to death!!! Thank you all so much for getting my grandmother the air-conditioner, I also want to thank you all on your help in fighting to get us the fans.
Today they came and told us we couldn't have them tied up on the TV stand with string, other than that, every thing is COOL.
I am sending what my grandmother wrote so you can see for yourself that she wants to thank every one for their help. From the bottom of my heart! Much love and respect,
Tennessee.
And here is grandma's:
"Tony, I don’t know who you talked to, or how you've done it with the air-conditioner, but it was sweet of you - I thank you from the bottom of my heart and thank who you talked to for me..It sure feels good!
So there... Such a little thing and it made such a big difference. Thank you all again for helping out...
Sincerely
Hey All.
Sorry to ask for help yet again, but the last few weeks I have gotten letters from at least 3 EX death rows.(no longer under sentence of death) They are not too cool, lonely I think after years on DR and now being around someone who don’t know where they are “coming from”.
Rudolph needs someone to write to, and so does Henry Davis. Kenneth Koenig is another one who is still at UCI but in the hospital ward. He is nearing 60 years of age.
If you need more information just let me know.
Sincerely
Hey Peggie and all,
When I say I received a phone call........it is not from UCI or FSP- regular death row cannot make phone calls.
When the men are out of DOC custody- in other words they have a hearing in regards to their case, they are being transported back to the county where they were originally tried and where they received their sentence. So they are in that period of time 'housed" in the county jail, and can make phone calls.
As it is right now, some of the guys call me if they need to get in touch with family or lawyers, some just call because they don’t have others to call.
In Broward county where Bea lives, and where Howard Ault is, and Lancelot Armstrong too,
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they have a pretty complicated visitation system, and when I know one of the men don’t get much (if any) visits, I call Bea and ask her if she has time to go see them.
It would in fact be wonderful if we could set up a network like that, so that we could offer a person to call and a person to visit when the men are back in their own hometown. Of course, if they don’t otherwise have family or friends that care...
I actually very often talk to family members who call me, either because their loved one has just been sentenced, or some prisoner calls because he is on his way to death row, I get phone calls from people who are about to visit for the first time.... some call when they want to get married, etc.
That is part of what we do as FDRAG.... just the last two days I have had a phone call from a sister in Texas whose brother just arrived to death row here, I got another phone call from an older lady who wanted to know about the new canteen business and what about money etc.....
Another one called me to find out how to get to the prison from the airport, where to stay and so forth. One just called because she needed to talk and was sick from worrying about her son.
It is my impression that it is the men telling their family members to call here if they want to get information, which is cool. Actually, it is about time we get an office, but that is a whole other story...Sincerely
We do of course also have our book program that has been running for almost a year, and is quite a success. We do however only have enough funds for 10 books a month, and the need is much bigger. A lot of the men don’t have family and friends to help out at all. (Due to the surplus 30+ books will be sent this month)
We just arranged for a 57 year old man who has not seen his mother since 1983 to get her to the airport in Texas and from the airport in Jax and back again, housing while she stays here as she has a bad heart, and also transportation to and from the prison…. This need is HUGE… A lot of the men don’t get visits at all, and some of that is due to the fact that transportation to the prison from all over Florida, and sometimes even further away, is too expensive, and added to the transportation comes motel bills and living expenses, some don’t even have a car and they need transportation to and from the prison.
Also, due to the surplus, we were able to send money to an older man at FSP who has not been able to watch TV for more than a year. His account was in zero and he told us he was going crazy from boredom. So we sent him enough money to buy a TV and get headphones too. Needs like that are never ending. Some men are in deep debt and owe more on their bank account than they will ever be able to pay back (medical bills, photocopies of legal papers etc) if they don’t have people on the outside sending them stamps and envelopes they have NOTHING- this need too, is way bigger than we can accommodate.
The needs are many and so different – just answering mail every day is a big post, as we also send greeting cards as needed, and we send birthday and Christmas cards. Again, some of these men have NO ONE on the outside that cares. Of course there is also the Newsletter that we publish every month and that we are now able send to more than 300 of the 367 that are currently on Florida’s death row…Hopefully soon we can send it to the rest of them.
There are bigger issues too, like the new bank fee, the food situation, abuse at the prisons, meetings with wardens, attending rallies when executions take place, and these days… preparation for our upcoming Art Exhibition Tour.
Anyway, thanks for your time and attention! Should you feel like helping out, either by joining FDRAG, get more information about a special subject, wanting a pen-pal, or you feel like you want to support what we do, please contact us through our webpage :
…www.fdrag.org
Or email:
fdrag_2003@yahoo.com
hannahfloyd@yahoo.com
Or call: 904 964 4303
Sincerely,
Florida Death Row Advocacy Group.
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