FINDING FREEDOM: RECLAIMING LIVES, CELEBRATING THE SIMPLE MOMENTS
Watch Our New Sizzle Reel
Creating a place to call home for women experiencing freedom for the first time in decades
A LETTER FROM SUNNY
As you know, I have been working with the team at Home Free to right one of the most horrific miscarriages of justice against women who were abused in severe domestic violence back in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s. Terrified and suffering, their self-defense ended up in the death of their abusers, or they were at the scene of a crime because of the coercion of their abuser. But their lives were forever changed because they were not allowed to bring evidence of their abuse into their trials or parole hearings. Consequently, they were sentenced to life or life without parole, or what many survivors rightly call, “death by prison.”
Now, thanks to exhaustive lobbying and years of advocacy, the laws are changing (in large part thanks to then Assembly pro tempore Fiona Ma) and hundreds of these women await the hope that their sentences can be commuted. Slowly, some of these women are getting out. Our passionate and dedicated team at Home Free is receiving them with the love, care, and dignity they deserve and providing a safe place where they can sleep with two eyes closed, instead of one open fearing what is to come.
We provide a safe haven and a home for them to experience peaceful transitions and responsive programming that fosters the pride and self-worth and the aspirations of each survivor when they take their first steps back into society.
Our job is to create a pathway to their own independence through financial literacy, trauma-informed therapy, and programs teaching them the simple things many of us take for granted, like how to use the bus system, or ATMs and technology. These are little things for many of us, but the little things are gigantic for them. I remember when Rosie, our first woman to arrive last spring, reached out to me after someone mentioned she has a Blue Tooth. She shared she thought she had a literal blue tooth and needed to do a better job brushing her teeth. And, I will never forget, thinking how hard it must be for her to get out in the middle of a pandemic. She called crying and I asked her what was wrong. She said, “I’m holding an avocado and a cantaloupe, and you can’t understand how amazing that is. I am so free.”
That amazement, that joy, and getting to witness those little moments, their self-determination, and their unwavering triumph of spirit, inspires me every day. This is a program that touches so many hearts. We are so grateful to all of you who have helped us renovate this six-flat complex with so much commitment, gusto and heart, from the landscapers, architects, interior designers, and furniture donations. We have a forest in the front of the building, as Rosie calls it “TheFreedom Forest.”
“I’m holding an avocado and a cantaloupe, and you can’t understand how amazing that is. I am so free.”
With the pandemic restrictions easing up a little, we have got so many great adventures planned for them, like trips to the ocean, which happened this past weekend, and so much more.
In the weeks, months, and years ahead, I want you to join me and our team in experiencing along with these inspiring women a new view. We are working hard now so that many, many more of them can be released from prison and walk through our Freedom Forest and be welcomed to their new home, their new futures.
Thank you for helping these women find the path to stand on their own two feet and walk tall.
Join me in making it happen,
Sunny Schwartz
P.S. We’ll keep in touch with you and show you what’s truly going on with each participant’s journey and other news through this newsletter. In this inaugural issue, you will meet Rosie, learn about some of our heroes who helped usrenovate our new home. Hope to see you on September 30th: RSVP at www.fivekeyshomefree.org.
VELMA & ROISE
To understand what we do, is to meet Rosie.
For Rosie it is the simple things: The sunsets. The smell of the ocean and hearing the waves. Kentucky Fried Chicken and bacon were her first meal requests. Last spring, Rosie, 67, was released from prison after serving almost 35 years for shooting her abusive husband in self-defense with the gun he was attacking her with. His daily ritual of physical violence had left her emotionally battered and scared for her life.
She was one of about 100 abused women serving life or life without parole for killing their abusive husbands or partners. The women were unjustly serving anywhere between 15 to 40 years in prison for either defending themselves against their abuser or because they were at the scene of the crime under the coercion of their abusive spouse or boyfriend. Trying to protect themselves cost them life in prison, because of a law that made it illegal for them to claim self-defense at their trial.
Thanks to a change in the law by author Fiona Ma, now our California State Treasurer (and years of tireless advocacy), California Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted her sentence. Unfortunately, many of these women have nowhere to go and end up in transitional drug and alcohol rehab programs, where they clearly do not belong.
Home Free provides a home and the rehabilitation services that prepare the women for successful full integration into society, providing trauma-informed survivor empowerment programs to help navigate daily life in the 21st Century. Programs include financial and technology literacy, job, and computer training classes. It is also a haven for physical, emotional, and spiritual counseling and healing.
“I finally have a home for the first time,” Rosie has told me. “If it weren’t for Home Free, I’d probably be living in a cardboard box somewhere.”
