LOVE IN ACTION

Financial Position

We started the month with a balance of $9,484.33

We received $909.08 via VENMO, $385 via checks, $50 via Zeffy, $2,410.87 via PayPal.

We also received 260 stamps at a value of $213.20. $1,151 worth of goods were purchased off the Amazon gift registry

I spent $9,135.92. $6,000 for the piece of exercise equipment, $2,010.52 for the initial order of 100 Go Bags, $112 for the PO Box rental, $300 given to Helen, a Detainee that we transported, $610.51 for the September and October treats for the Detainees, $49.89 cards for Go Bags, and $53 for the Pen Pal program.

That leaves us with a balance of $4,102.36

Key Activities

We gave the Detainees a Dunkin Donut for their September treat. We are giving them a bag of Halloween treats on Halloween for their October treat. It will contain some Mexican candies requested by some of the Detainees as well as the traditional chocolate candy. November they will receive a piece of cheesecake with the Thanksgiving dinner that the Center will provide. For December we have finally gotten permission to give each Detainee a $10 phone card so they can call home for Christmas. These cards must be purchased through the Center. The Center has been averaging a population of 170 Detainees so this project will cost us $1,700

Detention Center Staff

I took the staff at the Detention Center a small appreciation bag on September 9. The staff are the hands of Love in Action within the facility and I like to thank them at least annually with a small gift. My thanks to the people that helped put the bags together. The funds for these appreciation bags were paid for by an anonymous donor and those funds are not represented in the above noted funds.

Detention Center Captain

The Captain of the Center, Jay Whitney, whom initially approved our partnership between Love in Action and the Detention Center retired on September 24. I honor the work that Captain Whitney did for Love in Action as well as within the Center. He set the bar high for all employees, detainees and guests to be treated with dignity and respect. His replacement is Captain Fleshman. She has been working in partnership with Love in Action since we began and I know we will continue an excellent relationship into the future. Captain Whitney trained her well and Captain Fleshman will continue his legacy of treating all within the Center with dignity and respect

Operations

I have opened a PO Box for Love in Action. With the increasing publicity, it was time for me to remove my personal address and put a bit of a gap between me personally and Love in Action. The new address for Love in Action is: Love in Action, PO Box 149, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845.

Stamp Drive

We continue our stamp drive. The Detention Center Detainee use between 400 to 600 stamps a month and is one of our monthly budget expense. Donated stamps are a big budget saver. They can be mailed to: Love in Action, Inc., PO Box 149, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845.

Exercise Equipment

The long awaited piece of exercise equipment has been paid for and has been shipped. When it arrives and is in place, Captain Fleshman will schedule a ribbon cutting ceremony to initiate the equipment and our partnership with the Center in paying for half of it. I will keep you posted and post pictures when that happens

Detainees

I transported a released Detainee from the Center in Cottonwood Falls to Wichita on September 17. Helen’s birthplace is Nigeria. The next day a volunteer and I transported her car and Helen to the Department of Homeland Security in KCMO so Helen could pick up her driver’s license and get to her next mandatory court appearance in Maryland the following week. Her story is posted on the Love in Action Facebook page along with updates to her story. I so appreciated the volunteer’s time that day to help out. Sometimes it takes a village to get a released Detainee home. One of our Pen Pals Shannon, wrote a post and shared the story of her Pen Pal Alisha. Alisha is currently sitting in a detention facility in Louisiana and is awaiting deportation to a country she has never been to. Please find the post Shannon wrote and the updates she posts when they are available.

Go Bags

The biggest news of the month is we finally have approval to provide Detainees that are being deported from the Chase County Detention Center a Go Bag if their family is unable to provide one. The Go Bag will contain a backpack with a blanket, a toiletry kit, a phone charging cord, a pad of paper and a pencil, underwear, T-shirt, a sweat shirt or hoodie, a pair of pants, a pair of socks, personal hygiene items, a hair tie and a sports bra for the women, and a few bandaids. It will also contain a lot of love packed in it from all the people that will make these Go Bags possible. When a Detainee is notified that they will be deported, they or their family member can request a Go Bag and one will be provided for them. I will take a bag to the facility. It will be inspected and logged in, and then given to the Detainee when they reach their final deportation destination. The Go Bags will be available upon request starting December 1. There are lots of restrictions as to what can be put into the bag and rules on what those items must meet to pass inspection. For example, the bras must not have an underwire, the hoodies and sweat pants cannot have draw strings. No food items are allowed. Toiletries must be TSA approved and the kit must be standardized for all the bags that are taken to the Center so I will purchase them from a bulk supplier. We have an Amazon Gift Registry that lists the items that can be accepted from the outside for the bags. That said, socks are socks and underwear is underwear. If you are part of a group that would like to do a collection drive for the Go Bags, please contact me and let’s talk. My phone number is [620-481-8323](tel:620-481-8323). We have a group collecting socks and another one gathering sweat shirts and pants. If Love in Action has to purchase all the supplies for a Go Bag, our cost will be approximately $50 per bag. I don’t know yet how many bags will be requested. We are putting together the first 100 bags as a starting point. We have the potential of needing over 100 bags a MONTH. I posted about the need for some work “parties” that will help open, sort, wash and put together the Go Bags. These work parties will be held October 19, 22, 23,25, 26 and 28. I live in Cottonwood Falls, KS in a small house so can only accommodate between 6 - 8 volunteers per work day. Please reach out if you are able to help. All the events are scheduled to begin at 2:00 pm and most will take 1 - 2 hours. The ones on the 22, 23 and 26 will take a bit longer. The event on the 25th is to put together the October Halloween treat bags. All the others are to work on the Go Bags. There is a schedule posted on the Love in Action Facebook page that shows where the need for volunteers is currently. We will continue to stock supplies for the next set of 100 Go Bags. If we have enough underwear, socks, sports bras and T-shirts on hand, I can purchase a backpack, toiletry kit and blanket for $10. We will also need more sweat shirts and pants. This is a HUGE undertaking given the numbers of Detainees that are currently being deported. However, when you know the Detainees are being deported with only the belongings they had on their person when picked up, one understands the necessity and can help make them happen. One can’t quite imagine being dumped off in a country you may not ever remember being in before and have absolutely nothing to restart your life with. A bare essential Go Bag gives the deported Detainee a bit of hope, dignity and love to carry with them as they restart their life.

“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.” A quote from Mother Teresa

The subject of immigration is so loaded right now. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, angry and discouraged. One thing that helps overcome our overwhelm is to take one small step of positive action. Help one Detainee get treated with dignity and care while they are detained. Help one Detainee that is being deported have a Go Bag that gives them a bit of dignity. Together we can make a difference, one Detainee at a time. Please feel free to share this post and spread the word about the work we are doing together.