Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, is an outspoken advocate for incarcerated womens’ rights.
As you may know, EFry relies on donors and volunteers to make much of our work possible. Without the public’s generosity, we couldn’t operate our drop-in centres, provide our JustKids programs to help children with a parent in prison or operate our Small Frys Boutique, which gives women living in poverty a place to get home essentials and clothing. One area that’s always been more difficult to attract public support is our programs that help women in prison. It can be easy to dismiss inmates as ‘bad people’ who deserve to be locked away and forgotten. There can be little understanding or interest in the difficult life circumstances that lead to the actions which put women behind bars.
EFry is very pleased to have been instrumental in bringing Piper Kerman to Vancouver on May 5, during EFry Week.
Author Piper Kerman’s memoir, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, and the wildly popular, award-winning Netflix series it spawned is helping to change that. Both the book and the show depict incarcerated women as whole people and shine a light on situations that can cause good women to make poor choices. Building on the success of her book, Kerman is working to raise awareness of the realities of female incarceration and to advocate for women prisoners’ rights. Her mission and EFry’s align so closely, we believed strongly in the value her voice could offer to our community.
Bringing Orange is the New Black Author to Vancouver
EFry is very pleased to have been instrumental in bringing Piper Kerman to Vancouver on May 5, during EFry Week. She will share her story and insights as part of the Unique Lives and Experiences speaker series. As event sponsor, we’ll be sharing some information about our work and inviting people to learn more. We’ll also be doing some fun things in our community and on social media in celebration of this event – including contests that offer winners tickets to hear what Piper has to say and the chance to meet her. For all the latest on these opportunities, just Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Introducing #DignityEqualityOpportunity
Today, we’re starting the celebration by launching our new hashtag #DignityEqualityOpportunity. These three concepts are at the heart of everything we do. Over the next four weeks, we’ll be sharing tweets and Facebook updates that highlight our work in these areas and we invite you join us in spreading the word or offering your own perspectives. Not only will that help raise awareness of EFry’s mission, you could win a signed copy of Orange is the New Black.
#DignityEqualityOpportunity. Individually, each is a powerful force. Together, they can change lives for the better. And that’s a goal that’s always in fashion.
