Florida Death Row Advocacy Group

Our first ‘action” was to spend 4-5 hours in a car in the middle of the night to go see Governor Bush again, (not very successfully as he didn’t want to see us – thank God- and bless him?). This was somewhere in the middle of nowhere an hour and a half past Tallahassee, and we stood in line for a few hours too! We did see the Lt. Governor and we told her about the situation, and we brought her a security fan to look at.

Since the trip so far seemed to be fruitless, we then got the unction to try if we could meet with secretary Crosby on the way home, and – here is our first favor from God, (besides from the fact that the Governor couldn’t see us): The person who had not even let us (FDRAG, FADP and the FCC) by her desk to talk to Secretary Crosby for 4 weeks, was that particular day we “happened” to drive by, not in her office, so we spoke to someone else, and Crosby agreed to see us. In fact he was not even aware we had tried to contact him. We showed him the fan, gave him the paperwork and vendor name and he, on the other hand, gave us his word that he would have his security people look at it, and if they said yes he had no problem with you getting fans.

  Anyway. After 14 hours on the road- with no sleep, and tons of water – we arrived home, with the promise of another meeting and an answer to our plea for fans the following week. Well, that meeting was yesterday the 27th of July, and by then I had already received letters from some of you, saying staff had been checking out if you had an extra plug etc. so we knew something good was happening. And there was! Mister Crosby told us the fans were approved to be sold on the quarterly canteen list, which was wonderful, but what was even more wonderful was the fact that he allowed us to donate 400 fans so all of you could get one – NOW!!! – And he went out of his way to make sure the fans got there with absolutely no delay- and another wonderful person came forward and put up all the money so the fans could be ordered and paid for immediately.

And here is my point to this whole story. I know this could not have been done without what we did, or without secretary Crosby’s good will, or without all the people calling and writing. I know the law suit had something to do with it, and the ruling from Mississippi had a LOT to do with it, But what I am sure of more than anything- is that God made this happen, the timing was perfect- we paid attention to the spirit and moved on it- and when something that has been impossible for forever is suddenly possible, when doors that have been closed and nailed shut suddenly bangs wide open, then YES… to me that is a miracle, and thanks should be given where the thanks belong. So let me end this by first acknowledging Secretary Crosby and his kindness, and for not giving me the runaround, and because I know he did not have to do what he did, and he most surely did not have to help us make it happen as fast as he did.

Even he said: looks like you got yourself another miracle, as we were leaving. He must be reading my mail?.… and when that is said… This is how Abe puts it; “I certainly believe that a higher power influences my work, and I know Hannah believes that too. A lot of things all came together to make this happen the way it did. We just happen to be the shepherds....”

And me? My heart is filled with one thing… “Thank you Jesus…thank you Jesus” – I am so grateful to know Him and I am so blessed to serve Him- when God is for you then who can be against you? I wish you all a nice cooler rest of the summer. …Hannah

Wow, wow, wow, what a month this has been, I am still on cloud nine and so exited about all the good that has happened that I wonder when I will ever get down again – Gratitude is a humbling state of heart and puts everything in the right perspective. What an awesome God I serve. We have a few changes in regards to the book program. Some suggestions have arrived this month. We were asked if a request for a ~12 dollars magazine subscription would be okay…and yes, it would! It is an excellent idea. Some one else asked if we ‘roll over” the book requests to the next month. Yes we do. So no need to waste your stamps on that. Also, Books are now offered by another Florida Group, and we are pleased by that, just be aware that it is NOT the same group, so be sure you take notice which group you send your request to, so you know where to write if something goes wrong with delivery etc. As for hobby crafts: This is a part of a memo Secretary Crosby gave me at the meeting: “Items such as watercolors, sketch pads and drawing pencils will be available through inmate canteen. In addition a personal fan will be available for purchase through the access catalogue. Death row inmates will be afforded the opportunity to purchase this item initially as soon as it becomes available." In this memo it also says: “Hobby crafts should become available within the next three weeks” And since this memo is from the 21st of July, it should be right around the corner as you read this..? In Tallahassee, Abe, Secretary Crosby and yours truly.

I do truly and from the bottom of my heart thank you all for the nice thank you cards I have received, but the thanks really belong to our creator for making this happen, and to the generous people who these days are donating money to FDRAG to pay for the fans. In the next issue of FDRAG we will publish the names of organizations / individuals who have donated money towards the fans so if any of you feel compelled to give more thanks, please direct the thanks to ALL those who are helping to make this happen, and your thank-you notes will be forwarded or and/or put in the next newsletter and be shared with other newsletters and organizations. Possibly for publication. Christine Smith is back among us. She is from the Dreams of Freedom Charity but she will explain that herself in the next newsletter. I really don’t have so much more to share, the past two month has been totally focused on the fan isue and now it finally happened I am beat but ever so happy. So on we go, plenty of other things to work on, like a minor detail as getting rid of the death penalty , or make sure who becomes the next president of America. SIGH!… guess there is always something? Stay Cool, and know we will be expecting some art work in the weeks to come. Now that you can actually do it! In fact we are going to work with various organizations and individuals to get an art exhibition tour going- public education- all over Florida, which of course we cannot do without you being dedicated to this too. But a whole lot more about this in the next issue, …….Hannah

The very last artwork for the orphanage. They have all left for China now!

Donated by Floyd Damren from UCI

16 Books of the Bible (Can you find the names of 16 books in the following paragraph?) I once made a remark about hidden books in the Bible. It was a lulu! Kept people looking so hard for facts and for others it was a revelation. Some were in a jam, especially since the names are not capitalized, but the truth finally struck home to numbers of readers. To others it was a real job. We want it to be a most fascinating few moments for you. Yes, there are some easy ones to spot. Others, will required judges to help them. I quickly admit it usually takes a minister to find one of them, but there will be loud lamentations when it is found. A little lady says she brews a cup of tea so she can concentrate better. Well, see how you can compete. Relax now, for there really are 16 names of books of the Bible in this story. One preacher found 15 books in 20 minutes, but it took him 3 weeks to find the 16th one.