SKYLINE HARVEST

Thanksgiving Appeal Letter

November 2009

 

 

 

I want to take my small book, The Lioness Tale through prison walls and allow its message to unlock imprisoned hearts. I am appealing to you to make this a reality. My goal is to open its pages to long-termers, lifers, even those on death row. The message of Lioness speaks directly to those who "live in a world of cages, in one of the monstrous worlds." Yet it assures those who are imprisoned that "you can wake up, even here. This is not bigger than your own heart, nor does it run deeper than your own soul." The lioness of the tale learns that a change of heart, even among "the least of them" changes the world. Such transformations belong to us all.

 

When I look into my own heart I feel my softness towards the vulnerable and the violated. Looking deeper, I feel my hardness toward the violent and the violating. Look deeper still, and I discover how the vulnerable and the violated are inextricably tied to the violent and violating through mortal wounds to the human spirit. I see the boy soldiers of Uganda, witnesses of their mothers' rapes, their fathers' mutilations, as they are kidnapped and forced to carry rifles. I see these children as they are driven into becoming violent killers and rapists themselves. How can my heart take sides? The victim becomes the perpetrator, the violated become the violent. The vicious circle never seems to end. If I cannot find a place in my own heart where forgiveness is possible then the hope for turning this vicious circle into a vital circle of healing for our human community is frail indeed.

 

Seeing the transformation of people who may have committed horrible crimes as integral to our own lives is a stretch for many of us. Maybe you feel that people who live in prisons, and even those who work in them, are like a race from another planet. What do they have to do with our lives? Yet the vast majority of those people currently incarcerated will return to our communities. And for those who won't, hope is brightened by those perpetrators whose hearts have been miraculously opened by compassion and caring, connecting with the human spirit in new ways, and dedicated to healing wounds of the spirit they themselves have inflicted.

 

I believe you know the power of love that leads to the possibilities of healing and redemption. No matter the particular spiritual or moral framework that you have discovered to support your own growth in love, love itself is our common ground, creating community and bringing us into recognition of our need for each other and our deep communion with one another. The people in prison are not outside our human community. The movement towards love, even from the "lowest of the low," lifts the entire human spirit.

The Spanish mystic and poet St. John of the Cross has inspired the work of Skyline Harvest from our beginnings: "Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love." It is this truth that originally inspired our founding in 1987, that took us into our local county jails and prisons, and brought women into our home who would have otherwise been sentenced to a State Prison term. It was this truth that impelled us to petition sentencing judges to release women from county jail, in order to come to our healing Center in the Sierra foothills, so they could be supported in connecting to the sources of hope at the center of their own hearts. These were the experiences that shaped the writing of The Lioness Tale. The invitation "to put love where there is no love," now calls us to return to the prisons to share the book's message with those who may not know the redemptive power of love in their lives–and to increase its capacity in our own.

 

This work is not the work of one person. It is the work of each of us and all of us. We are asking for your support in this very particular expression of faith in the human spirit. We are asking you to send us into the belly of the beast with a candle lit by your kindness and the possibilities of forgiveness. We are asking for your spiritual and your financial support. Monies that were available for prison rehabilitative programs in California have been drastically cut. We need you to do this work. Any donation from $10 to $1000 is appreciated and will be used to fan the flame of love that makes all things possible.

  

During this month of thanksgiving we are grateful for the possibility of doing this work through the generosity of your support.

 

With gratitude and best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving,

 

Text Box: SKYLINE HARVEST THANKSGIVING APPEAL PO Box 338 – Camptonville, CA 95922 – www.ecocontemplative.org - 530 288-0308 With this letter we are asking your support for The Lioness Tale Prison Project. Your donation will cover the cost of materials, travel, creation and implementation of a 30 hour in-prison program. Currently we are in conversations with the California State Prison in Lancaster and the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla as pilot sites for our program. Make a tax-deductible donation to Skyline Harvest Buy The Lioness Tale, share it with others and give as a gift this Christmas Bring your organization or team to a Lioness Tale or Enneagram residential workshop here at Skyline Make a private retreat yourself or give a retreat as a gift Refer us to individuals and organizations who would support and benefit from our work Include us within the circle of your loving intention I would like to make a gift of: r $25 r $50 r $100 r $500 r $1000 r $______ I would like to make a monthly donation of: r $10 r $25 r $50 r $______ Enclosed is a list of people who I believe will be interested in your work. Name: ______________________________________________________________________ Address:_____________________________________________________________________ E-mail:________________________________________ Phone________________________
Diane Pendola with Teresa Hahn and our Skyline Harvest board members: Hal Zina Bennett, Shirley Dickard, Deb Marois and Yakshi Vadeboncoeur.