Happy Sunday Friends,

This week looked a little different – no new blog posts, and with my upcoming travel (9/11–9/24), posts will continue to be light. Always know that even when we’re not publishing, we’re working hard behind the scenes and preparing what’s next.

 Blueprint Collaboration
We’re excited to announce our partnership with Blueprint, a UC Berkeley student-run tech team helping nonprofits. They’re building a tool to automate key parts of our adopter matching process, which will free up more time for us to do what matters most: supporting people in prison. (You can also learn more about their amazing work on their main page).

 Hate Mail Series Continues
We’ve been receiving powerful emails from you, adopters and allies, sharing your own stories of mail rejections. First up: a long-time adopter in New Zealand who has faced repeated censorship of her letters (both snail mail and e-messaging) to her adoptee in Ohio. Her story will be the next installment in our Hate Mail series.

 We’d love to hear from more of you. If your letters or emails have been blocked, stamped RTS, or mysteriously vanished, send us your story. These experiences are too common to ignore, and together, we can shine a light on them.

 Volunteer Spotlight
I’m grateful to share that a new volunteer, Libby in Oregon, has joined us to help with blog posts. Her first project is an animated post for our Letters From Prison series. featuring a touching letter from Monique in Louisiana, which will be published shortly. I’m so thankful for the extra hands, and for Emily who connected us. Thank you, both!

 On the Horizon: Bee-Sides – The Dust Bowl
In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing a post about the Dust Bowl, a disaster in Oklahoma that most of us have heard of, but few of us truly understand. Some recent realizations have sent me down a rabbit hole about government manipulation and the cruel rhythm of forgetting. Stay tuned.

 On the Homefront
We finally received official word that our homeowner’s insurance claim (for water damage in our kitchen) is denied. For the foreseeable future, we’ll continue making do with a microwave and an egg cooker. In the spirit of resilience, we’re turning to the creativity of people inside who have long been resourceful with microwaves, hot pots, and commissary items.

A friend in an Arizona prison (whom I’ll be visiting during my travels in September) told me they make crispy(!) chimichangas using a microwave popcorn bag. I can’t wait to try it. I’d love to hear your own prison cooking “hacks” and recipes. Drop suggestions of your own, or from your loved one inside, and we’ll feature our success stories, and failures (I’ve already had one pasta disaster).

 Kurtis & Joe Update
When I spoke with Kurtis yesterday, he shared some incredible news: Joe has now earned over 230 certificates of completion from programs available on his tablet, and just this week he started his very first job inside. I’ll be sharing more of their story in the weeks ahead.

Not all the news is hopeful, though. Across Illinois prisons, daily lockdowns continue, and drug-related deaths are skyrocketing even though visitation has been shut down for months on end. Kurtis told me he personally witnessed three deaths in a single week. (Spoiler: it isn’t families bringing drugs in, it’s the guards, stupid.)

Thank you for sticking with us during this light posting season. Your letters, stories, and support keep this work alive. Even when the mail is stamped “undeliverable,” our connections find a way through. We can’t wait to catch up with you in a few weeks.

As always, thanks for reading, sharing, and supporting.

With gratitude,

— Melissa 🐝

Quote of the Week: 

“Few things in every-day experience are harder than just to keep pegging away at a task which seems doomed to failure, yet which we cannot in conscience abandon.”
— Caroline Henderson, Letters from the Dust Bowl

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