July 20, 2018
Father Venancio Balarote
St. Nicholas Catholic Church
712 Little Neck Rd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
Dear Father Balarote:
lam writing to ask for your help. | am a member of the Board of Directors for
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP). This is a nonprofit
organization which has been working in Virginia for 27 years to end capital
punishment in our state.
VADP has been instrumental in changing public policy. One was repeal of the 21-
Day Rule to allow physical evidence of innocence to be used in a court of law to
exonerate the innocent. Prior to that no evidence of innocence could be used in
court after 21 days of conviction.
Thanks to this law, many people have been released from prison based on physical
evidence. You may remember the case of Earl Washington who was sentenced to
death, served many years on death row, and was finally released after DNA
evidence proved his innocence.
VADP is currently working with the Virginia Catholic Conference and mental health
organizations to ban the executions of people with severe mental illness. VADP is
working to begin support among conservatives for death penalty abolition in
Virginia. We plan to have bipartisan abolition bills introduced in the 2020 session of
the General Assembly.
Michael Stone is the Director of VADP. You may remember him from his 25 years of
work with the Office of Justice and Peace in the Diocese of Richmond. He is a
wonderful director and is working very hard to accomplish abolition.
But VADP needs to expand its funding base if it is to continue this fight. We depend
on grants and gifts from individuals and organizations. Fifteen Catholic Churches,
mostly in Richmond and northern Virginia, support VADP with an annual
contribution. In Tidewater there are only a few, including Holy Spirit, Sacred Heart,
and Church of the Ascension. | am hoping that your parish would be able to help
with an annual donation of $100 to $500.
More information on VADP can be found at www.vadp.org. Extensive financial
reports are available on this website. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Donations may be made through our website or checks can be mailed to VADP, P.O.
Box 12222, Richmond, VA 23241.
Many thanks for any consideration you can give to this request.
Sincerely,
Theresa Dunleavy
124 Orchard St.
Norfolk, VA 23505
treesal@verizon.net
