CHICAGO — For Christmas last year, two little girls were given a pair of dolls from their mom.
The girls hadn't been able to visit their mother in a while, said Alexis Mansfield, but last year the family was able to see her in prison for the holidays, and she gave them the dolls. The girls still sleep with the dolls and carry them around. When asked, they tell people, "It's from my mom," Mansfield said.
"It means so much to them that they have that piece of tangible connection to their mom even though they can't be with her in person," said Mansfield, the supervising attorney for Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers. The group, which is a part of Cabrini Green Legal Aid, advocates for mothers who are in prison.
The girls' visit and gifts came with help from Lutheran Social Services and a toy drive, but this year the state's budget crisis forced the agency to cancel free bus trips that enabled families to visit moms in prison in Logan and Decatur.
But two groups stepped in, setting up an online fundraiser that collected more than $2,000 in just a day.
“I was so grateful. I am so relieved. I am so overwhelmed by the expressions of generosity toward our program, toward the families that really depend upon these types of services to maintain contact,” said the Rev. Valerie Riley of Lutheran Social Services. “It was just incredible for me.”
Money from the fundraiser — which totaled more than $3,000 by Tuesday night — will fully cover free bus rides to and from the prison for the kids and their caretakers a week before Christmas.
“When the children go to see their mothers, it’s a chance for them to really communicate what’s been going on in their lives for weeks or months,” Riley said. “They just are appreciative of the fact that they’re able to spend quality time with their mothers and connect with them.”
Without the free buses, many kids wouldn't be able too see their moms, Mansfield said. The prisons are both about 3½ hours from Chicago, and not all families have cars to travel that distance or the financial means to stay overnight if necessary, Mansfield said, especially since incarceration typically affects women in lower socioeconomic groups.
“The thought of it not going was really difficult for a lot of families who, their Christmas is just not complete without being able to see their mom or their daughter or their sister,” Mansfield said.
The moms also benefit from the visit, said Holly Krig, the director of organizing for Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration. The Near West Side-based group helped organize the fundraiser with Mansfield's Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers. The ongoing contact readies them for when they transition out of prison, helps them maintain custody and is necessary for "their own survival" while incarcerated, Krig said.
“It’s crucial. These kids have rights to see their families, and their mothers in particular, as much as any other child,” Krig said.
Now that the buses are taken care of, the groups will turn its attention to a toy drive that starts Wednesday. Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration will post an Amazon wish list to its Facebook group and ask donors to buy gifts from there.
The gifts will be delivered to prison and moms will then be able to pick presents for their kids. They can wrap them and give the presents to their children during their visits ("which they'll now be able to do as a result of having the bus," Krig noted). The groups need about 1,500 presents.
Because people tend to buy gifts for younger children, Krig and Mansfield said extra money from the bus fundraiser will be put toward getting gifts for older children and teens.
“Having that social connectiveness outside of prison is something that will help the families reunite and also to make sure the moms have success when they return home,” Mansfield said.
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