Hi Guys Great having you as part of our community - especially the Wellington ones! I wanted you to know about our wonderful staff and volunteers who have worked hard this year fighting crime at the most fundamental level, by breaking the intergenerational cycle of crime and violence ? working with the families and children of prisoners. I want to mention just how amazing our mentors have been making a difference in the lives of these young people; for their patience, commitment and passion supporting our young people who could have easily ended up on a slippery downward spiral but who now have support, encouragement, insight, and hope for a positive future. But unfortunately, this wonderful support is only a drop in the ocean in the scheme of things. New Zealand is about to be hit with the biggest disaster ever recorded in history, and it is not an earthquake. An unstoppable crime tsunami will hit New Zealandfs shores within the next 5 years leaving devastation in its wake. It will massively impact the lives of everyday kiwis, our courts and our prisons. The crime tsunami is the 13,000 children of prisoners in New Zealand who are six to seven times more likely to end up in prison than any other child without direction and hope. Recently there has been research come out of Canada where it has been reported that 59.7 per cent of adult inmates are children of prisoners and a recent report from USA stated 48%. There is no data collected on these statistics in New Zealand but based on extensive international research our 13,000 children are now identified as the most ghigh riskh of filling New Zealandfs prisons in the future. But there is still time to reverse the tide. If every prisonerfs child had mentoring or counselling support, we could easily halve New Zealandfs raging crime rate by at least 50% within the next 5 years preventing the next generation of 13,000 children from becoming New Zealandfs future generation of criminals. It is not a hard call. There are more children of prisoners in New York alone, than there are in New Zealand. PILLARS is equipped to take up the challenge. I need your help to eliminate the next generation of prisoner. 2009 is the year to act and turn this situation around. We together can solve this problem. Please contact your friends and networks to help out, so we can get the website up and running, not only for the future of these young people but for the future of our nation ? before it is too late.
