Greetings from Mary House!!

A busy summer has given way to fall at Mary House. We’ve had a steady stream of lovely children here in the past months, including some very young ones, accompanied by moms and grandparents and aunties. It’s always a little chaotic here when everyone leaves after the weekend, but among the lost socks and dust bunnies I recently found this beautiful thank you from a young guest.

We’re very grateful for your help, and happy that thanks to you Mary House has been able to welcome this summer’s guests.

 

We’ve had some wonderful help this summer, including a deep cleaning project of our guest rooms, the donation of a great new vacuum cleaner, and a long day of yard cleanup and driveway resurfacing from Madison friends and members of the Madison Mennonite Church. And we’re now able to offer visiting children a much nicer assortment of toys and snacks, thanks to the incredible shopping of an extremely generous donor this summer.

To all of you who help Mary House, buy visiting, by working, and by donating to the costs of keeping the house open throughout the busy summer and fall months, THANK YOU!!!!! We are grateful for your help and would be unable to stay open without you!!

We’ve had some wonderful help this summer, including a deep cleaning project of our guest rooms, the donation of a great new vacuum cleaner, and a long day of yard cleanup and driveway resurfacing from Madison friends and members of the Madison Mennonite Church. And we’re now able to offer visiting children a much nicer assortment of toys and snacks, thanks to the incredible shopping of an extremely generous donor this summer.

To all of you who help Mary House, buy visiting, by working, and by donating to the costs of keeping the house open throughout the busy summer and fall months, THANK YOU!!!!! We are grateful for your help and would be unable to stay open without you!!

How are we persisting? Recently a couple of people have asked me what the future of Mary House looks like – and it made me think about what we’re up to, in this era of renewed tough talk on crime, longer and longer sentences and booming private prisons. Apparently the answer is “more of the same”. We intend to continue offering the best hospitality we can to ALL of our guests, and we continue to hope that one fine day there will no longer be a need for hospitality for the children and families of inmates.

 

Mary House got some much needed care and maintenance over the summer.

Friends from Madison and members of the Madison Mennonite Church recently spent a day at Mary House – they cheerfully   cleaned up some minor storm damage from earlier in the summer, tidied up the trees and plants along the front of the house, and recoated the driveway. We would be lost without these cheerful hearts and many helpful hands!!

We Have New Toys!!

A kind friend collected the complete cast of the Toy Story characters off the curb on her street and relocated them to Mary House’s toy room, and now they’ve been joined by an extremely generous donation of brand new toys from a generous donor. All of these characters have enjoyed lots of attention this summer.

And we’re counting on Sunshine!

Slowly but surely we are getting closer to installing solar panels to generate electricity at Mary House. On one sunny day this summer we got a start on the second of two roof structures to support them, where there is good sunshine.We are about one third of the way along towards a fundraising goal of $18,000, and would welcome your donation towards the project. We do indeed intend to be here to use that electricity!

 

Jerry Zawada, Presente!

Mary House lost a dear friend and inspiration this summer. Fr. Jerry Zawada OFM – peace and justice activist, Franciscan friar, and frequent prison inmate – joined the Heavenly Cloud of Witnesses on July 25, at the age 80.

Jerry encouraged the formation of Mary House long before the doors opened to our first guests. His own steadfast belief in justice and his sense of personal responsibility took him inside many jails and prisons, and he understood the challenges faced by families struggling to visit. We are deeply grateful for his encouragement.

 

Jerry served his early years as a Franciscan priest in the Philippines, and later worked with the homeless, war refugees and survivors of torture in Chicago, Milwaukee, Mexico, Las Vegas, Tucson and elsewhere. Jerry was imprisoned for two years in the late 1980s for repeated trespass at nuclear missile silos in the midwest; served three six-month prison terms for trespass at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning Georgia, and two months in prison in 2007 after crossing the line to protest torture training at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.  A few years ago, his advocacy for and celebration of mass with women priests earned a disciplinary letter from the Vatican.

Mary House Wish List

Toilet Paper & bathroom cleaning supplies, Hand soap, Laundery detergent, Dish and Dishwasher soap, Swiffer (or similar) cleaning pads for laminate floors, Firewood, Money for bills, milk & fresh produce, Juice, Coffee, Tea, Creamer, Sugar, Poptarts, Healthy snacks for kids, Breakfast cereal, Small denomination gift cards for guests to use for gas on the way home

Special Project: donations towards installation of solar panels next summer!