SISTERS OF BON SECOURS, USA ©
Sisters of Bon Secours Ministry Grant Fund
1525 Marriottsville Road
Marriottsville, MD 21104
Accountability Report for the VADP Grassroots Education Project
Final Report Due on: March 22, 2018
Grantee: Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(VADP)
Title: Michael Stone, Executive Director
Address: P.O. Box 12222
City, State, Zip: Richmond, VA 23241
. Please give a brief explanation of how the goal(s) and objective(s) for
the project, as described in the proposal, were achieved.
Thanks to the $25,000 grant from the Bon Secours Sisters, VADP
conducted a nation-wide search for a full-time Field Director to conduct
public education on proposed legislation to ban the execution of people
with severe mental illness (SMI).
VADP hired Dale Brumfield and he began work on May 22, 2017. Aftera
brief orientation, Dale has spent the bulk of his time traveling to eight
target legislative districts and meeting local community leaders. These
districts were chosen because their legislators hold key positions in either
the House or Senate Courts of Justice Committees which will consider
legislation to ban the execution of people with severe mental illness.
Thus far the Field Director has spent at least one week in each of the
following Virginia areas - Martinsville, Danville and Chatham, Floyd and
Galax, Elkton and Shenandoah, Winchester, Lynchburg, and southwestern
Virginia. These communities are located in lesser populated and more
rural areas of the state, mostly on the southside and the west.
In the past nine month the Field Director has met over 100 local leaders in
the Commonwealth who are involved in the faith community, social
services, business, media, and politics.
How have you achieved your measurements?
The Field Director maintains a Google spreadsheet of all contacts in each
of the eight target legislative districts. In addition, he submits a weekly
report on his meetings and activities. The Executive Director also meets
with him every other week to delve into the contacts made and to plan
follow-up actions for each target legislative district.
What impact did you have?
The VADP Field Director has met over 80 local leaders across the
Commonwealth who are involved in the faith community, social services,
business, media, and politics. He recruited 39 of those local leaders to join
VADP, including:
House District 29 (Winchester)
« Winsome Sears, Former Republican member of the House of
Delegates & businesswoman in Winchester
@ Mark Gleason, Chief Operational Officer of Northwestern Community
Services Board
House District 15 (Woodstock)
@ John Spencer, Retired professor active in prison ministry from
Bentonville
@ Russ Leinbach, small business owner in Harrisonburg
@ Wynonah Hogan, head of the Valley Justice Coalition near
Harrisonburg
House District 24 (Amherst)
¢@ John Young, Director of the Rockbridge Community Service Board
@ Marquia Hubbard, Marketing Director at Phoenix LLC (mental
health treatment center)
¢ Gretchen Wilhelm, Regional Director of Compass Youth and Family
Services
@ Doug Harwood, Editor and Publisher of the Rockbridge Advocate
House District 16 (Chatham)
@ Rev. Charles Warnnock, Chatham Baptist Church (where Del. Les
Adams worships)
@ Annette Turner, Head Start Fiscal Officer at Pittsylvania County
Community Action, Inc. (her sister has schizophrenia)
¢ Christine Thompson, Coordinator at Danville-Pittsylvania Community
Services
Senate District 10 (Midlothian)
« Ruppert Beirne, Richmond area attorney
@ Campbell Pendleton, Principal at ClientFirst Insurance Group in
Richmond
@ Joe Kelleher, President of Kelleher Heating & Air Conditioning
Senate District 22 (Lynchburg)
@ Melissa Lucy, Director of Services for Horizons Community Service
Board
Senate District 20 (Moneta)
@ jill Burcham, Founder and Pastor of PUSH Ministries in Galax
@ Emma Walghbore, Director of the Life Center of Galax (addiction
treatment)
Senate District 38 (Lebanon)
¢@ Jodie Roop, Director of Mental Health Services for the New River
Valley Community Action Network
@ Maria Timoney & Barry Proctor, Attorneys
@ Mike Guy, Director of the District Three Governmental Cooperative
@ Peter Wallenstein, History Professor at Virginia Tech
@ Meghan Hamilton, Education Director with the Barter Theatre in
Abingdon
Other Resource People
« Deona Landes Houff, former Op-Ed page editor at the Staunton
News Leader
¢ Shaun Kenney, Political Consultant and former Executive Director of
the Republican Party of Virginia
A number of these local leaders have invited our Field Director to give
public education events on SMI and the death penalty. Presentations were
made to the following groups:
* Shenandoah Valley Aging People in Prison
St. Expeditus Catholic Men’s Group (Richmond)
Midlothian/Brandermill Rotary (Richmond)
Richmond Valley Justice Coalition (Harrisonburg)
Young Appalachian Patriots
*
*
os
os
Guest op-eds that support the SMI exemption were published in three
newspapers whose readership includes people in target legislative districts
and one political blog:
Stop Executing the Severely Mentally Ill
Bacon’s Rebellion -- January 3, 2018
http://baconsrebellion.com/stop-executing-severely-mentally-ill/
Death Penalty for Mentally Ill Defendants?
3
Lynchburg News and Advance -- December 17, 2017
http://www.newsadvance.com/opinion/community_viewpoint/cabezas-
and-thissen-death-penalty-for-mentally-ill-defendants/
article_5124e1a4-e1e3-11e7-a0e8-970a8436d026.html
Stop Executing The Mentally Ill
Harrisonburg Daily News-Record -- December 11, 2017
A i 0.
article _ bda0089c-dc50-11e7-82cd-5317b7a836f2. html
No solace in executing mentally ill killers
Bristol Herald Courier -- November 30, 2017
http://www.heraldcourier.com/opinion/no-solace-in-executing-mentally-
ill-killers/article_333e9161-2d89-5e1e-8711-0cd2b02f3d95.html
2. What changes, barriers, or modifications, if any, to the original
project were made as it progressed? If there were barriers, what
barriers were there, and how did you overcome them?
We have identified no major barriers to the original project. Our biggest
challenge is getting meetings scheduled with key people in the target
legislative districts.
3. Give a detailed explanation of use of funds. List cost elements of the
project and expenses for each (salaries and benefits, supplies,
printing, etc.).
All of the funds from the Bon Secours Sisters Mission Fund were used to
help pay the salary of the VADP Field Director.
Do you expect to expend the full amount of the award?
We have spent the entire $25,000 award.
4. What are the future goals and objectives for this project (e.g.,
further program development, obtaining sustainable funding, etc.)?
The VADP Field Director has scheduled a number of public presentations
on severe mental illness and the death penalty in the coming weeks:
March 12: Three Chopt Rotary near Zion Crossroads, Va.
March 20: Chatham Rotary in Chatham, Va
April 12: Smith Mt. Lake Rotary, near Moneta, Va.
April 15: Capital punishment forum, Barter Theater, Abingdon Va.
All of these events are located in key legislative districts. We anticipate
signing up many new members for VADP to help with our severe mental
illness legislative campaign.
The VADP Field Director continues to seek more speaking opportunities
with Rotary and Ruritan Clubs in these same eight target legislative
districts.
5. Please sign, date and return to:
Carol Jessee
Congregation Office
Sisters of Bon Secours USA
1525 Marriottsville Road
Marriottsville, MD 21104
Signed:
Michael E. Stone, VADP Executive Director Date
