KENTUCKY
COALITION to
ABOLISH the
DEATH
PENALTY
P.O. Box 3092 « Louisville, KY 40201-3092 * 502.636.1330 ¢
shekinah.lavalle@kcadp.org * www.kcadp.org
Dear Friend(s),
Each year about this time | write to ask for financial support from our supporters, to describe where we
spent your past generous donations and to highlight some future activities we hope to complete if we
have the necessary funds to pay staff to carry them out.
Last year’s fundraising went well thanks to you and others. Many responded to that special offer of $4,000
in matching gifts and we met that goal. Altogether individual donors gave KCADP more than $40,000 to
continue this important work. Much of that is used for the salary of our Outreach Coordinator, Shekinah
Lavalle who worked with volunteers from our partner organizations to staff the booths at the State Fair
and the Worldfest event on Louisville's Belvedere. Shekinah also worked with victim family members and
some of Kentucky's own exonerees to hone their skills in speaking with legislators on all the Wednesdays
during this past session of the General Assembly. We learned of legislators’ concerns and discovered that
several legislators have shifted positions and now support death penalty repeal.
Shekinah also worked closely with our partners from the ACLU and three Witness to Innocence tours.
Gary Drinkard, Sabrina Butler and Kirk Bloodsworth — all of whom were on death row and all of whom are
innocent — visited Kentucky and spoke on many college campuses and other venues. Shekinah arranged
for Kirk and Sabrina to meet with legislators so they could put a face to the stories of innocence and the
failure of the system to always get the right person. These visits made a significant impact on those
legislators with whom they met. Momentum is moving in the direction of repeal, in Kentucky and in the
nation.
We must keep up our efforts to educate Kentuckians in every corner of the state about the need to repeal
the death penalty. We are using skilled media consultants to get the message out and Taylor-Gray
Associates have prepared press releases, have helped others craft and get published op-eds for our two
major newspapers and arranged for the distribution of radio news reports while lawmakers were in
session. They succeeded in placing nearly $40,000 worth of radio spots for under $2,000. We must keep
up this effort.
To help motivate donors, Suzy Post, former executive director of the ACLU and a leader in the formation
of KCADP, is pledging to match $1,000 in donations. | know you will make that happen. In fact | am
confident we will more than match that amount.
Every board member of this Coalition contributes generously. | would not ask you to do so if the
leadership of the Coalition was not doing so. We all want to see the work continue. We added the names
of more than 500 supporters to our list this past year and we need to continue to increase the number of
those willing to contact their lawmakers at 1.800.372.7181 or meet with them directly to urge repeal of the
death penalty. By maintaining a staff and office, by sponsoring events and activities, by having a media
plan that educates the public we will be successful. Your generous financial gift and the gift of raising your
voice with your legislators are all important in this campaign.
Thank you very much for everything you have done to support this effort.
Sincerely yours,
Chtied Aelahaste
——______—Werking Together to End the Death Penalty——#H+H+——
