Extended Family News

Conference Interest Meeting - July 23

2011-06-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

There is something exciting happening in Alabama – and we are hoping you will be a part of it.

My friend, Mary Kay Beard, and I invite you to a meeting on Saturday, July 23, 9 to 11 a.m., to discuss an idea we have brewing. The meeting will be at Altadena Valley Presbyterian Church, 4660 Caldwell Mill Road, Birmingham, AL 35243.

What Mary Kay and I have been discussing is an Alabama conference for families of the incarcerated. We would love to have your input on this vision.

For the last two years I have attended and presented at the National Prisoners Family Conference. The other presenters have come from all over the country. They have covered a wide range of topics aimed at families of the incarcerated, and I have connected with people, organizations, and resources from one end of the United States to the other.

This conference has been extremely helpful to me as I direct Extended Family, a support system for families of prisoners. I have wanted to give that same conference experience to family members in Alabama, and Mary Kay feels the same way. (For those of you who don’t know Mary Kay, she is an ex-offender and founder of Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree. You can learn more about her story at www.marykaybeard.com.)

At the July 23 meeting we will discuss the idea of a state conference, get your input, and brainstorm on the purpose for such a conference. We had a similar meeting on June 11, and those in attendance were overwhelming for putting together an Alabama state conference for families of prisoners and others associated with the prison experience. We have even started to form a Conference Planning Committee.

Attendance at the July 23 meeting does not mean you have to be on the Planning Committee! It is simply a meeting to determine interest and get the ball rolling.

We hope to see you at:

Conference Interest Meeting
Saturday, July 23, 2011
9 – 11 a.m.
Altadena Valley Presbyterian Church
4660 Caldwell Mill Road
Birmingham, AL 35243

If you have any questions between now and then, please contact Sharon Denham, Conference Planning Committee Chairperson, at 205-902-8437, Laure Clemons at 256-927-7997, or Mary Kay Beard at 205-815-9991. And please pass this information on to anyone you know who might be interested in attending.

Laure Clemons
executive director
Extended Family

2011 Prisoners Family Conference - on my way!

2011-02-19T08:57:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of the friends and supporters of Extended Family, I will be attending and presenting at the 2011 Prisoners Family Conference in Portland, Oregon!

I leave on Feb. 22 and will return Feb. 26 – with some fabulous stories to tell when I get back. (Visit www.solutionsforelpaso.org to see the list of presenters and find a Conference registration form.)

Last year Jerry and I attended the National Conference in Orlando, FL. This year I’m going on my own so Jerry can stay here to work and attend his college classes. AND I get to present two workshops this year – the Extended Family for Kids workshop, and our latest one called Going Home. We will have an Extended Family exhibit at the conference as well, and I’ll be attending other workshops by presenters from all over the country.

On Monday, March 7, I will be giving a presentation at our Centre, AL Extended Family meeting on what I learned at the Conference and telling the stories of the people we reached while there. Please mark this date on your calendar and join us for a great update. Extended Family – March 7, 6 p.m., Cherokee Baptist Association Building, Main Street, Centre, AL 35960.

Stay tuned for more updates on Extended Family’s work - and thank you for helping us toward our Mission – to offer help and inspire hope.

Laure Clemons
executive director
Extended Family

Speaking to Rotary Club

2011-02-19T08:53:00.000-08:00

On Jan. 31, 2011, I spoke to the Rotary Club of Centre, AL, and gave them an update on our Extended Family for Kids program – and there was a lot to tell!

Four years ago when I created Extended Family for Kids, a 9-session program for children of the incarcerated, I had no idea how far it would go. Today the program is in nine states, from New Mexico to New York, from Florida to Indiana.

We are now in talks with Big Brothers Big Sisters and The Alabama Children’s Trust fund about the possibility of doing Extended Family for Kids with their “Bigs” and “Littles” through a Mentoring Children of Prisoners grant. (By the way – Big Brothers Big Sisters is a great way to mentor a child who has a loved one incarcerated – so check out your local chapter if you want to be involved in that great program.)

Today’s Rotary Club audience was made up of the leaders of Cherokee County, AL – large and small business owners, hospital and college administrators, retired politicians – and they were extremely supportive of Extended Family for Kids.

If your community group would like to hear the Extended Family for Kids story, or an update from the last time I talked to you, please give us a call at 256-927-7996, or e-mail us a date and time so we can get you on the schedule.

Stay tuned…..

Laure Clemons
executive director
Extended Family

Events

2010-10-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

please join us for

EXTENDED FAMILY'S 7th ANNUAL CELEBRATION

Saturday, Nov. 6, 6 - 8 p.m. CST
Chamber of Commerce meeting room
Gadsden State-Cherokee Community College campus
801 Cedar Bluff road, Centre, AL 35960

Guest speaker Curtis Edenfield from Dallas, Texas
Complimentary dinner
Entertainment by singer/songwriter Ronald Watkins, Montgomery, AL
Special appearance by everyone's favorite "celebrity" from Mayberry
Door prizes, and more!

QUESTIONS? Call 256-927-7997 or e-mail extendedfamily@tds.net

Hotel accomodations: Days Inn, 1585 West Main Street, Centre, 256-927-7927.

RESOURCES - Child Mentoring Program

2010-08-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

At Extended Family we learn about a lot of Resources for families of prisoners. I'll be posting these Resources to this blog for you to check out for yourself. A post of a Resource does not mean that Extended Family endorses that Resource or has used it. We are simply passing on the information to you, giving you as many tools as we can!

CAREGIVERS CHOICE PROGRAM
through Kairos Torch Prison Ministry International, Inc.
1-800-298-2730, #222 - Kevin Resnover or Brenda Campbell
http://www.mykairoscommunity.org/

What is it?
Caregivers Choice is designed to connect caregivers and parents with quality mentoring programs. These programs match children who have incarcerated parents with screened and trained adult mentors.

How can you sign up?
Visit www.mykairoscommunity.org and fill out an application online by clicking the "Submit C.H.I.P. Application tab. More information can be obtained at the Web site.

According to one of the leaders of the program who e-mailed information to Extended Family: "Mentors are fully screened and fingerprinted volunteers who spend one-to-one time with the children. Together they work on homework, play sports, visit new places and dream of a brighter future for the child. Together they plan for that future. A mentor is an adult who doesn't have to care for a child, but does- what a powerful message to the child that they are valuable."

Kairos Prison Ministry is a wonderful organization - I have experience with Kairos Outside - so I believe this program will be successful. Laure Clemons, executive director, Extended Family

If you choose to utilize this Resource, please add to this blog with your experience.

Highlights of 2010 Prisoners Family Conference

2010-03-03T17:54:00.000-08:00

Below is a wrap-up of our trip to the 2nd Annual Prisoner’s Family Conference in Orlando, Fla. on Feb. 25-26. We saw a miracle every minute and have 100 stories. The bullet points below are just the highlights.

Left: Laure at Extended Family exhibit with conference director Carolyn Esparaza, Community Solutions of El Paso.

At this conference we met directors of other organizations for families of prisoners from all over the country, and brought back a pile of business cards, flyers, and brochures. I’ll be posting the contact information for these organizations on our blog over the next few weeks. I’ll get our Web site Resources page updated as well. Just a couple of the organizations:

Guiding Children of Promise, Beaufort, SC – a mentoring and educational program for children of the incarcerated through the Catholic Charities Diocese of Charleston. http://sites.google.com/site/guidingchildrenofpromise/Home, 843-982-6238

XTreme Soulutions, Ocala, FL – a team approach to working with families and inmates, with re-entry programs and community involvement. They have volunteers who start working with inmates 3 years before re-entry! www.XTremeSoulutions.com, 352-694-4888.

Mercy Heart, Fort Worth, TX – a church based initiative for helping families of prisoners during and after incarceration. www.mercyheart.org, 817-514-0290

Wings Ministry, Albuquerque, NM – providing fun, inspiring holiday parties for family members and inmates (they take parties into prisons too), and educational programs for families on the outside. www.WingsMinistry.org, 505-291-6412 Left: Ann Edenfield of Wings speaking at conference

A lot of the people at the conference represented mentoring programs for children of prisoners – and these folks were especially excited about Extended Family for Kids! So many of those in mentoring programs said, “We want to talk with you more about using Extended Family for Kids with our program.” Today I received an e-mail from The Family Connections Center in Concord and Berlin, New Hampshire, asking how our program can work with theirs. www.nh.gov/nhdoc.

Jerry and I were asked to talk in the Kairos Outside workshop about our own experience with Kairos Retreats. The workshop was led by Jo Chapman, the founder of Kairos Outside.
Left: Jerry talks with Jo Chapman and speaks during the Kairos Outside workshop.

Quite a few of those same folks involved in mentoring programs attended the Extended Family for Kids workshop on Feb. 26. Comments on the evaluation forms – “I’ll be using this in my program!!” – “Great! Very useful information; presented in a fun, entertaining way” – “Unreal, I loved it!” – “Will use it.” – “A great possibility. I need to turn my situation into a positive & this may be part of it.”

Images from the Extended Family for Kids workshop - middle, a participant joins in Picture This, thinking about his future; at right, a cup of coffee teaches "It's not your fault!"

We had an Extended Family exhibit at the conference and talked to a lot of people who came by to see us there. We had a beautiful banner done by Model T’s, lots of handouts, our Extended Family for Kids game board, and pens to give away with our information on them. A lot of folks signed up to join our e-mail database.

Jerry and I attended as many sessions as possible and learned even more about the impact of a parent’s incarceration on the children, re-entry programs for inmates, and special programs for families in different parts of the country.

In one session I saw a film of children with their incarcerated dads. One boy said his dad was missing all of the firsts in his life. “Like my first time on a roller coaster,” the boy said. That seemingly “small” thing was important to this child. Another little girl said she keeps everything her dad sends her.
One grown woman on the film talked about her dad’s incarceration when she was a child, and she is still dealing with the repercussions from that. “I’m always wondering where I fit, and if there is a place for me,” she said.
Jerry learned about some model family reunification programs, including Pennsylvania D.O.C. Handbook for Families and Friends, Alvis House (Ohio) www.alvishouse.org using the Ohio Fatherhood Initiative, and Passage Home (NC) www.passagehome.org. Look for more of these resources on our blog.

One of the most informative sessions for me was led by the wife of a sex offender. She covered the topic of what the family member goes through and what life is like for them now that her husband has been released. In Extended Family we have members whose loved one has been convicted of a sex crime, and I know that they are having an experience that is unique – so this workshop helped me understand much better what those family members are going through. The woman who led this workshop has started an organization to reach out to other family members of sex offenders – restorativevoice.org.

There were quite a few ex-convicts at this conference, and that surprised us a little bit, but it was good. One was a keynote speaker and told his story of re-entry. A couple of others provided Thursday night musical entertainment, and their family members shared their stories too.

There seemed to be a lot of healing going on for the participants in this conference, and we were used to bless others and to be blessed. Some of the stories we were personally involved with:
A successful, 24-year-old man, whose father had been in prison while he was growing up, was at the conference. (In fact, he was one of the keynote speakers.) We ended up spending a lot of time with him, and he attended the Extended Family for Kids workshop. He said “This is the first time I’ve felt comfortable in a group of people, really being myself, and knowing that everyone knows this about me but it is okay.” He loved Extended Family for Kids – said he wished he had the program when he was a child – and wants to help children in Texas with the program.
A woman came to the Extended Family for Kids workshop who had a family member incarcerated, and told us later, “That was so healing for me – especially the part about how ‘It’s not your fault.’”
We spent time with a man who used to be incarcerated and was starting to realize that he was now in a unique position to help others
A mother was there whose son was recently sent to prison. She was in a lot of pain, and I was able to tell her about the other moms in Extended Family going through the prison experience and offer her encouragement. Jerry was able to share his experience with her and let her know that her son could come through this and go on to an even better life.

Thank you, again – to all of you who sent donations and made this trip possible. Thank you to those of you who passed on the original e-mail about the conference, who prayed us through this trip, who helped take care of our cats while we were gone – and the many other ways you found to be a part of Extended Family and this conference.

We believe the ripples on the pond from our attendance at this conference are just beginning - and we would not have been there to drop the stone into the water without your help. Blessings to all of you.

Laure Clemons
executive director
Extended Family
256-927-7997
extendedfamily@tds.net

2nd Annual Prisoner's Family Conference

2010-02-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

The 2nd Annual Prisoner's Family Conference, sponsored by Community Solutions of El Paso, will take place on February 25-26, 2010, in Orlando, Fla.

Laure Clemons, executive director of Extended Family, will be presenting a workshop at the conference on Extended Family for Kids, and Extended Family will have an exhibit booth.

To learn more about the conference and to register visit www.solutionsforelpaso.org

Women wanted by Emory for study on wives of prisoners

2010-02-16T09:46:00.001-08:00

Extended Family was contacted by a researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. This researcher wants to conduct a study on African American woman who have a partner currently incarcerated.

The details of the study are below. If you are interested in participating in this study, please contact the primary researcher at the information listed.

This is not an Extended Family project - we are simply passing on this information to you. Getting information out about resources available to families of prisoners is one of our functions.

RESEARCH PROJECT E-MAIL FROM EMORY UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER
We are looking for people who can help to create services to support women whose partners have gone to prison. We want to learn about the ways that losing a partner to prison affects women’s lives and health. We are interested in learning about the challenges, triumphs, and daily experiences that women have after their partner enters prison.

You may qualify to be in the study if you are:·
An African American woman·
18 to 49 years old·
Live in the Atlanta metropolitan area·
Have lost a partner to prison in the past 6 months·
Partners must be serving sentences longer than 18 months

If you take part in the study, you will take part in 4 conversational interviews that each last up to 2 hours. These interviews will be held over the course of a year. Participants will receive up to $155 over the year.

This study is being done by Emory University. Information on individuals will not be shared with anyone outside of the project.

Contact us to see if you qualify to participate:(404) 727 7677 or projectrise@emory.edu
Primary Researcher:
Dr. Hannah Cooper
Rollins School of Public Health
Emory University
1518 Clifton Rd
Rm 526
Atlanta GA 30322

Inmate response to Operation Christmas Card

2010-01-10T17:54:00.000-08:00

We have received a lot of letters from inmates who received Christmas cards this year through Extended Family's Operation Christmas Card.

Some of the responses are below. Enjoy!

"I hope you realize that it is not a small thing that you do. It may seem like just a small card with a few words on it to you, but to us it is a treasure. Your card will be taken out many times and read in amazement that someone so far off would take the time to show that they care of somemoe they don't even know. To me that's a miracle!" Inmate at ECF, Clio, AL

"Thank you and I was flattered by all the love and affection shown by the Extended Family. I have not received this much mail in years. Once again, thanks." Inmate at Phillips State Prison, Buford, GA

"I want to thank each one of you for all thecards, blessings and prayers. In prison it gets real lonely and sometimes becomes a very hard journey to stand, but because of God he allows me to stand every day. Thank you so much for your time. You'll never know just how much it meant to me. God is good!" Inmate at Tutweiller, Wetumpka, AL

"Thank you for remembering me this year and you are absolutely right about miracles. They always seem to reach me as I need them." Inmate at FCDC, Frankfort, KY

"It is with a warm loving heart that I want to thank you for your gifts of God's love. While I may not have a card to send of thanks, let this letter suffice. I am glad that there are those who are obedient to the Lord that go out and bless people, with that same love that He has loved you with." Inmate at LLCC, LaGrange, KY

"I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to write us in here. Nothing makes a person feel better when he or she knows people do care and are praying for us." Inmate at Phillips State Prison, Buford, GA

Operation Christmas Card

2009-12-04T21:55:00.000-08:00

It's time again for Extended Family's Operation Christmas Card!

We have collected the names and addresses of inmates from our members and have a list to send out - so you can join us in sending inmates a Christmas Card this year.

To receive the Operation Christmas Card list - send an e-mail to extendedfamily@tds.net and we will send the list to you in a Word document.

Merry Christmas!

Laure

Question - How often do you visit?

2009-10-27T10:16:00.001-07:00

The following question was sent to Extended Family by a woman who wants to help her friends. Can you give her some suggestions by adding a comment to this post?

"My concern is a family that consists of a father and three small children who are on the outside. The young mother in this family is incarcerated in a state prison and is expected to be there for a very long time (12-20 years). This young mother wants the support of her family and I want her expectations to become reasonable.

The family wants to cut back to visits once a week and she wants more. Her parents are aging and she is dissappointed that they too won't change their schedules and make more frequent visits. I am sensitive to her feelings, but the time is hers to do, not directly theirs.

I look forward to whatever insight you might have."

Events

2009-10-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

please join us for

EXTENDED FAMILY'S

6th ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF LIFE

Saturday, Nov. 7, 6 - 8 p.m.

Cherokee Baptist Association building

1575 West Main Street, Centre, AL 35960

Complimentary dinner
Entertainment by singer/songwriter Ronald Watkins, Montgomery, Al.
Door prizes!
Extended Family for Kids fun room (ages 6 - 12)
Guest speakers - Laure and Jerry Clemons - will talk about the prison experience from the view of the family member and the ex-convict
Special ceremony honoring those who have a loved one incarcerated

QUESTIONS? Call 256-927-7997

Hotel accomodations are available right next door to the event: Days Inn, 1585 West Main Street, Centre, 256-927-7927.

Welcome to Extended Family's first Blog!

2009-10-13T20:27:00.001-07:00

As of October 14, 2009, Extended Family has a blog page!

I'll be posting to this page a variety of information related to those of us who are, or were, families of prisoners.

We would love to hear your stories, and more importantly, your solutions! How are you getting through the prison experience?

Stay tuned for more news to come as we continue in our Mission to offer help and inspire hope.

Laure