About UsPresence from Prison is a nonprofit organization that addresses a serious issue that many children face today, absent parents. Often, adults make selfish choices, and children suffer the consequences. No child should think that their parent doesn’t love them. Children who wake up every morning wondering where their mom or dad is, wondering why they didn’t get a Birthday call, wondering why they didn’t get a Christmas present. The mission for Presence from Prison is to collect new toys and monetary donations throughout the year and distribute these donations to children from their incarcerated parents - to give children solace knowing that although their parent is absent they are still present. We give both parent and child an opportunity to reconnect. Our goal is with a small gift, to deliver a message of hope, love and self-worth to children, and hope and rehabilitation for those incarcerated.
Presence from Prison is an incentive for prisoners who are willing and wanting to change, prisoners seeking spiritual, physical, and mental growth and rehabilitation. Prisoners who are utilizing the programs the prison has to offer for self-awareness, self-healing, and to better themselves. |
Who We Are |
My father passed in November 2014. This was and still is the most difficult thing I have had to face. He was a man who lived a very selfish and precarious life style. Throughout my childhood and my siblings, my father was absent. I love my father, and surprisingly, loved him unconditionally my entire life, regardless of his absence. My two sisters live in Pennsylvania and I have a half-brother and half-sister that live in Florida. They never had the opportunity to know my father. I, although very young, knew the good, the bad, the ugly, more than any child should know, but the most important part of that last statement is, I knew the good. My father was a sick man with demons and when he died my view on the world changed, my views towards criminals changed.
We as a society are so quick to judge ‘criminals’ and those who lie, cheat and steal, or worse. But as we judge and crucify, and use our freedom of speech on social media, we forget one important thing, the family- specifically the children. The children of those criminals are forced to suffer the consequences of their parents’ poor choices. Forced to read and hear the horrible things. Forced to be looked down upon or judged because some adults chose not to act like adults. I am fortunate to have an incredible mother who sacrificed everything to make sure my sisters and I were protected, taken care of, and loved. Never did she speak poorly of my father, nor kept him from us. She taught us to love him, and ensured we knew he loved us. My sisters and I missed Birthdays, Christmas, and Mondays, but we love our father, thank you to our mother. My brother and sister that live in Florida, missed everything we missed and more, and will never know the love our father had for them, despite his vices. So what’s the point of my sob story? My history, my tragedy, my heartache has led me to start Presence from Prison. Like my mother did for me, I want some child somewhere to know even if their parent is absent, they are still present. |
Our History |
In November of 2015, we reached out to the warden of Lackawanna County Prison to form a partnership and see if Presence from Prison is something that we could bring to fruition. January of 2016, Presence From Prison was presented at Lackawanna County Prison. May 2016, we officially became a Non Profit Organization through Pennsylvania Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations.
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