Incarcerated Women: In Mission From "The Inside"
There are many organizations that bring worship and Bible study to inmates in prison. But United Methodist Women in Kansas have helped incarcerated women find something more – an opportunity to minister to those outside prison walls. And that’s what has attracted women in prison to the organization.
Barbara Scott, president of Kansas East conference, presented the stories of United Methodist Women in two Kansas prisons to the Women’s Division board of directors on Monday, October 20.
She pointed out what United Methodist Women offered inmates that was different from other prison ministries.
"They offer spiritual growth opportunities, service and mission to others, study, and fellowship," said Ms. Scott. And this is what makes the organization so successful and important to women "inside."
The United Methodist Women’s organization – WHWI or "Women Helping Women Inside"– is in a minimum security Kansas correctional facility and began in 1987 with an internal focus. Kansas East conference United Methodist Women helped begin the unit, but from there, the inmates led it themselves.
Today, they have 40 active members at the Topeka correctional facility and another 20 members at a new unit at a medium/high-level prison.
"This group lets you give back. This group allows us to become involved in a positive way," says Susan Davidson who is an inmate and treasurer of WHWI.
The women began by sending friendly notes and bookmarks to new inmates, inviting them to meetings. Inmates who were released from prison received a self-addressed postcard if they wanted to be contacted by a local United Methodist Women member.
Soon, their ministry turned outside their walls. They had limited fund-raising opportunities in prison, but decided that "even a small profit can generate a big profit." In 2003, the minimum security unit raised $6000 in ten months for mission.
DeAnna Wiggett, an inmate and membership secretary, talked about the guilt and remorse with which she lives. "I can’t change the crime that was committed but I can impact and change people’s lives by giving through the mission projects we do," she says. "Being able to give to others encourages us to make a difference even from prison."
With yarn donated by Kansas United Methodist Women units, the unit began crocheting "church purses." The purses have a cradle, doll, clothes and bottle, which they sell outside the prison for $15. Thinking innovatively, they add a little frog in the church purse for boys.
For each completed project, inmates receive a one-dollar credit toward hygiene items in the prison store, which is very important for the women, according to Ms. Scott.
The project was so successful that the inmates expanded their ministry and began crocheting bookworms, wrote a cookbook with foods they could find in the prison, and designed t-shirts to sell.
In the prison, the mission funds help provide facilitators for inmate parenting classes and for in-house parenting retreats for women and their children.
Outside the prison, the women have reached out to children by crocheting afghans and hearts for the Kansas project, United Methodist Youthville Residential Centers. They also bought bottle-fed calves for one of the campuses. Internationally, they sent "WWJD" beaded bracelets to orphans in Ecuador, toothbrushes to children in Mexico, and cards to missionaries.
They commit themselves to mission and learning through the United Methodist Reading Program and some minimum-security inmates even received permission to attend schools of mission and annual meetings.
This unit became so successful that Kansas United Methodist Women helped begin a second unit in a medium and maximum security prison. Women for Justice and Mercy – or WFJAM– began in July 2002.
After much learning from one master crocheter, the group decided to crochet Pooh Bear characters to raise funds for mission.
Lorna Anderson, president of WHWI says that the organization has given incarcerated women a personal freedom. "We are incarcerated, but involvement in unit activities and mission projects has, in a manner of speaking, opened prison doors for us. I want to say thank you to United Methodist Women for accepting us into your group– for more than just coming in and ministering to us."
United Methodist Women is a one-million member organization whose purpose is to foster spiritual growth, develop leaders, and advocate for justice. Members raise around $20 million a year for programs and projects related to women, children and youth in the United States and in more than 100 countries around the world.
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