Sing Sing Prison's Legacy of Giving

Today is #GivingTuesdayNow, a new global day of giving and unity that is an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19. 

In spite of its turbulent history, Sing Sing Correctional Facility has been a place that has inspired compassion and shared humanity. In the 1870s, Walt Whitman helped incarcerated men write letters to their families. In the 1930s, Warner Bros. studio donated a gymnasium to the prison. In the 1980s, Mother Teresa visited an AIDS ward at Sing Sing and advocated for hospice care.
 
The Sing Sing Prison Museum is honoring this legacy of giving by finding ways to support the incarcerated population and those working on the front lines. We're also thinking about the organizations - Hudson Link, Rehabilitation Through the Arts, the Osborne Association - that have made positive impacts within Sing Sing who now face new obstacles to provide their services. 

Here are some ways you can make an impact:

• Give your voice to help raise awareness, lend your talents to give pro bono hours to a nonprofit who needs your expertise.
• Donate money, supplies, Personal Protective Equipment - anything you can to organizations on the front lines of this pandemic. 
• Show your support for local nonprofits who, despite COVID-19, are continuing to provide much needed services to the community.
  
  

You can show generosity in a variety of ways during #GivingTuesdayNow - whether it’s helping a neighbor, advocating for an issue, sharing a skill, or giving to causes, every act counts!

On the Front Lines

Hudson Link is working with fellow members of the New York Consortium for Higher Education in Prison (NY-CHEP) to purchase re-usable, protective face masks for every man and woman incarcerated in New York State to help combat the spread of COVID-19. ​

The Osborne Association is raising money to give cell phones to people leaving prison to access virtual services and supports, fund phone accounts while visiting is suspended, and underwrite the cost of technology for their remote workforce.

Rehabilitation Through the Arts is sending lesson plans and materials to the men and women in the six facilities where they work with, so participants can continue to engage with the arts in meaningful ways.