Letter from Diocese of Newark Prison/Delaney Hall Ministry on needs at Delaney Hall
Delaney Hall Update - With Our Neighbors is Where We Stand
Dear friends,
It has now been over a year and a half that advocates from many faith traditions have been standing in solidarity with the families of detainees at Delaney Hall.
The Prison Ministry of the Diocese of Newark & the Delaney Hall Ministry ask your help in providing for the needs of 100+ families that visit their detained family member each weekend. Often the detainee is their family's bread-winner, throwing their family into deeper insecurity.
We are beginning to collect much needed items that can be dropped off (for now) at two drop-off locations:
- St. James Episcopal Church, 581 Valley Road, Upper Montclair
- St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 215 Boulevard, Mountain Lakes
We plan to make our first delivery on behalf of our Diocese to Delaney Hall on the morning of the Eve of All Saints, Saturday, 10/31.
After that we will make a monthly delivery on the 4th Saturday of the month - the same weekend that we hold our Diocesan Prayer Vigil on the 4th Sunday of the month at 3:00 pm.
Donations that are needed
Grocery store gift cards are still at the top of the list of needs. The best cards to give are Shoprite and Stop & Shop. The easiest denominations for us to deal with are $25 and $50.
For the Hospitality Tent
Our greatest need is new blankets. The weather is turning colder particularly at night. Delaney Hall is very close to Newark Bay and the winds are constant. Land's End has a sale on fleece stadium blankets for $9.58.
We are also in need of shoelaces. We give these out to our neighbors who are released. They are often released without their shoelaces.
We are also in need of snacks to serve at the tent. Any individually packaged cookies, chips, granola bars or crackers are welcome, so are apples and mandarins. With the cold weather we are also in need of instant hot chocolate packs and ramen noodles in cups.
Shelf stable items are assembled into pantry bags for visitors and for people who were released.
- Beans (dried & canned)
- Canned tuna fish
- Rice
- Pasta
- Flour
- Cornmeal
- Honey
- Dried Fruits & nuts
- Broth
- Peanut butter
- Shelf stable milk & juice
- Rolled oats & other grains
- Sidewalk chalk
- Jump ropes
- Soccer & Basketballs (new please)
- Toy cars
- Dolls & action figures
- Plush toys
- Spinners, fidgets, stress balls, squishies
- Stamps
- Sanitary napkins
- Individually packaged snacks (chips, granola bars, cookies, etc.)
- Apples
- Mandarins
- Instant hot chocolate packs
- Instant ramen in cups
- Stadium blankets (new please)
- Shoelaces
- Rosaries*
- Bibles in Spanish, French, Portuguese and Haitian Creole*
*There are also individual requests for Qurans and other religious texts, and prayer beads and other religious items which we fulfill, but the need for Biles and rosaries is constant.
Finally, detainees who are able to show that they are in legal proceedings to regularize their immigration status are able to pay a bond for their release from detention. (We have met many such people, who should not have been detained in the first place)
Two organizations that are collecting funds to pay bonds for detainees at Delaney Hall are Soma Community Cares and Envision Freedom.
Thank you! You can learn more about our experiences at Delaney Hall and ways you can help at the Prison Ministry/Delaney Hall workshop at the Diocesan Convention.
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