January 2019 Newsletter

Jan 17, 2019 | Uncategorized

Dear Friends of The Sunny Center,

The daffodils and bushes are beginning to appear on the last day of 2018.

It’s 2019 and we can hardly believe it! Here has arrived a new year full of promise and hope. As for us, our promise and hope is to help more exonerees achieve happy, hopeful and productive lives. And we are aiming to expand that promise globally. Last year, we opened our home at the Sunny Center to more individual exonerees, more couples and more women exonerees from more countries than ever before. And, we also established the first exoneree community of its kind, Exonerees for Exonerees, in Tampa, Florida. We hope to expand our reach in 2019 even further.
 
Of course, we need your help to reach this goal. In honor of 2019, please consider a donation of $19, $119, $219 or $2019. And also consider a recurring gift of any amount, as that way your donation is a gift that keeps on giving all year long! We have dipped heavily into our resources helping exonerees who need our assistance and we hope you can help us with a donation, especially now. 
 
We appreciate your support and look forward to sharing 2019 with you!


OUR EXONEREE GUESTS AND VISITORS

Chilling at the Sunny Center, waiting for our next visitor.  

 We are still working to smooth out the Visa wrinkles of our expected exoneree guest from Pakistan. And we have a long list of exonerees waiting for a spot to open up for a visit to the Sunny Center in the coming year. Any exoneree who would like to apply and would benefit from coming to the Sunny Center should get in touch as we are preparing the calendar for the year. Or if there is any exoneree who needs to be relocated to a permanent residence, please apply here and tell us about your circumstances so that we can see if we can offer a place at the Sunny Center community Exonerees for Exonerees in Florida. Anyone who wants to visit or volunteer, should also get in touch. 


OUR VOLUNTEERS ​

Our volunteer Mary Ellen from Galway..

Sometimes our volunteers become friends and sometimes our friends become volunteers. Mary Ellen has been coming out once a month to help me keep the Sunny Center in good order. She’s a good friend as well as a good volunteer.


OUR FURRY AND FEATHERED FRIENDS

Podge and Rodge, Jillie and Jodi Dodi hanging out together. 
 
This time of year, our furry and feathered friends seem to be in relaxation mode! It’s a good time of year to lay out in front of a sunny window, spread out by the fire or hang out together in the fields. 

OUR ACTIVISM ​

Two of our residents, along with a local news reporter and our exoneree support coordinator Dorothy. 

We expect that 2019 will be even busier than 2018! We already have plans to be part of a special screening of the film Fallout and presentation at the United Nations and attend our first Sunny Center board meeting of 2019. We will keep you posted!
 
In the not too distant future, the Sunny Center is going to need to relocate. To date we have been renting our Sunny Center residence in Ireland but it is our goal to establish a permanent residence for the Sunny Center in order to provide continuity and the longterm stability of our work. So please look for more news to come on your social media. 


STAY CONNECTED ​

Three of our exonerees who have found freedom and a home at the Sunny Center community residence.

As we enjoy the lengthening of days and the stronger sun, we hope for peace and love and joy in the world in 2019. We also are reassured by our network of dear friends and supporters. We thank you for working together with us to make the Dream of a better life happen for so many and, please rest assured, we ARE making a difference in the world! 
 
Peace and Love, 
 
Sunny and Peter 

Realizing Sunny and Peter’s Dream

Just a few weeks ago, we gathered in Manhattan to say goodbye to our dear Sunny.

STOLEN LIVES- documentary about the Sunny Center Foundation and our work

We are so excited to announce the upcoming documentary release about the incredible work of our dear friends, Sunny and Peter! A decade in the making, the documentary STOLEN LIVES produced by @bangbangteo will finally be screened— an inspiring and powerful tribute to...

With deep sadness…

By now, many of you have heard the news about Sunny. For those who have not, it is with great sorrow that I report that Sunny has passed. Sunny and her caretaker, Kevin, passed away after a fire at the Sunny Healing Center in rural County Galway. We don’t have many...

Remembering Peter

My dear Peter is gone.
We sang him home on the last day of the year, gathered around his bedside as we had done for so many days before.

Love Is Always the Answer

Winter is always a little bit quieter than the rest of the year. After a long day spent maintaining the Sunny Healing Center and getting it ready for visitors, it’s time for us to cuddle up with the kittens and, of course, Barney, on chilly winter evenings with a warm fire in the hearth.

Stolen Lives adds another U.S. date!

The wonderful documentary "Stolen Lives" about our dear friends, Sunny and Peter, and their important work with wrongfully convicted and exonerated people has added another screening. In addition to the Sept. 6 screening at Stetson University in Florida, "Stolen...

A new goal for the new year

The end of the old year and the beginning of the new are both busy times, filled with the sharing of gifts with family and friends. And that's why I want to send a personal thank you to all of those who took the time to include us in the sharing of gifts during this...

Even in summer, the work doesn’t stop

We’re in midsummer now, with its long days that stretch until 11 in the evening here in Ireland. It’s a busy time for everyone and everything.

The power of art to heal and renew

Did you know that Peter was a woodworker and an artist? He created so many things. But more importantly, he taught those skills to other Exonerees when they visited the Center.

Looking for green shoots

Photo by Samantha Bookman. Peter and I chose to situate the Sunny Healing Center here in this beautiful location in the west of Ireland. A newcomer may at first see only a barren, rocky, windswept landscape. But, put your hand on the earth here, and you can feel the...

A message from Sunny about Peter

The time has come to say farewell to our dear Peter, who is in the process of transitioning from this body and this plane.