Send prisoners some holiday cheer!

The Prisoner Correspondence Network is holding our fourth annual Holiday Card Project, sending holiday cards to hundreds of people on the inside. Christmas can be a very dark time in prison and a holiday card can make a world of difference.

In previous years, PCN has received a grant from NZPost which has helped us to cover the costs of the project. However, this year our application was rejected. That means we’ll need to fundraise the difference. We estimate based on the number of prisoners and cards we’re expecting, it’ll cost us about $1000 to run this year. Every dollar helps, so please help us to run this important project.

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Below are some of the examples of thank you letters we’ve gotten for the Holiday Card drive.

From JL:

To the team at the Prisoner Correspondence Network. Being an openly out Gay Man I found prison life to be a little daunting, depressing and a little bit of a scary place to be but worst of all I felt alone. But since making contact with you guys at PCN you have given me the support and strength to become a stronger person and to be proud of who I am and stand tall with my head held high and thank you soo much for help. Also I thank you for introducing me to the penpals that have been writing to me, I truly believe through you I have made some great friends for life. Thank you to everyone who sent me christmas cards that meant so much to me. Wishing you the best for 2017. With love JL.

From LD

I just want to say a huge THANK YOU for all the wonderful xmas cards I received today. It’s made a very tough and upsetting week a little brighter! I loved the handmade ones, they are all talented and amazing. Could you please thank all the people for me? I never knew people cared that much. It’s made my xmas a little bit brighter.

Thank you again, from LD

From anon:

To PCN

Today I received a bunch of christmas cards from you guys

OMG!!

Thank you so so much it made my day. You guys are the best.

Thanks

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You’re also welcome to write cards to prisoners. If you would like to send cards, please post them to PCN / PO Box 5870 / Wellesley St / Auckland 1141. The list of names to address them to is available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jqfv53dLaXRjQq8eivDQE5jIJa2ER8bYO5tNFYxNt-Q/edit?usp=sharing

We are also holding letter-writing working bees in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. These working bees will be an opportunity for us to come together and write holiday cards together. More details about the working bees will be out in the next couple of days. If there isn’t a working bee in your area, please let us know if you’d like to organise one!

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IMPORTANT NOTE: this year we are unable to accept cards that have been glued together as some prisons refuse to hand on cards that have things glued to them. So if you make homemade, by all means make something incredible and creative, but just don’t stick anything to them!

We’re inviting people to nominate their friends and whānau in New Zealand prisons to receive cards. If you know someone inside and you think they would appreciate some seasons greetings, just let us know their name and prison and we can add them to the list.

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PCN is run and funded by People Against Prisons Aotearoa (PAPA). Funds raised for PCN will be held by PAPA and will only be used for PCN purposes.