April 27, 1972
THE TWIG
Page Three
"Help Overcome Prison Envirorment
Is MCA Project Goal
Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel Sends
Anti-War Plea to College Campuses
The MCA has recently added to
its list of activities Project H.O.P.E.,
a special ministry to the residents of
the North Carolina Correctional
Center for Women. The name of the
project and its meaning, “Help
Overcome Prison Environment,”
came from one of the center’s wom
en, demonstrating the mutual aware
ness of the need for such a project
by both the girls at Meredith and
the residents at the center.
According to Brenda Upchurch,
the project’s head, the aim of Proj
ect H.O.P.E. is “to bring as many
honor-grade women as we can to
Meredith’s campus for fun, recrea
tion, and refreshments.” The group
meets every Tuesday evening in the
Hut from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.,
unless something special is planned.
The women are brought in cars, and
the number of participants from the
center ranges from 23 to 32 women
each week. The ages of the visiting
women vary, usually providing a
_ cross-section of the center’s resi-
' dents, whose ages range from 16 to
78 years.
The usual activity centers around
music and refreshments in the Hut.
But the women also attend Meredith
events such as the “Merchant of
Venice” production and the Student-
Faculty basketball game. On March
28, the MCA held an Easter party
and egg hunt here on campus for
the women. Future plans include a
spring tour of Raleigh ending here
on campus in the amphitheater and
a wrap-up picnic with the women
who have attended the project. But
as Brenda noted, the music pro
vided in the Hut remains the favor
ite activity, as at the center they
are not allowed to play radios with
out earphones.
Although the project started
March 14, planning began last Sep
tember with Mrs. Juanita Baker, su
perintendent of the center. Miss Ann
Peaden, the MCA advisor, has taken
a very active part in Project
H.O.P.E. and assisted with the initial
planning. Cooperation between the
the center and the girls of the MCA
has been evident from the start.
Recently Mrs. Baker wrote Bren
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da, thanking the MCA on behalf
of the center’s residents for Project
H.O.P.E. According to her letter,
the women in the center were get
ting along better among each other
with much less tension. The women
were also trying harder to be good
residents during the week so that
they will be able to attend the meet
ing, for Mrs. Baker said that the
project was the main topic of con
versation among the center’s resi
dents.
That Project H.O.P.E. has meant
a great deal to the women is evident
from what they say and do. They
have begun to speak of Meredith as
“our school,” and disappointment is
keen when one cannot attend the
project. On leaving the cars at the
center, the women continually hug
and thank Brenda for the meetings.
One woman looks on Project
H.O.P.E. as the answer to her pray
ers for the nine years she has been
at the center. Others can hardly be
lieve the experience is real. When
one woman remarked in the Hut, “I
feel like I’m dreaming!,” another
replied, summing up the feelings of
the women, “If it’s a dream, honey,
you better hope you never wake
up.”
Dear Editor:
On March 23, 1972, 1 introduced
in the Senate legislation to halt im
mediately further U. S. bombing in
Indochina and to require the total
withdrawal of all U. S. military and
paramilitary (e.g. CIA) personnel
from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos
within 30 days after enactment.
The U. S. air war over Indochina
has escalated steadily during the past
several months, in direct contradic
tion of President Nixon’s public as
sertions that the war continues to
wind down. Due to public pressure
American ground troops are slowly
coming home, but they are leaving
an automated war behind. Computer
technology and a small number of
troops manning aircraft and artillery
are creating a U. S. destructive pres
ence that may literally hover over
Southeast Asia at all times because
the planes are based in Thailand and
on aircraft carriers in the Gulf of
Tonkin.
At the same time that the Presi
dent is stepping up the bombing,
he is imposing ever more serious
strictures on the release of informa
tion about the air war. Newsmen
have never been allowed to go out
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on bombing raids outside of Viet
nam, and all information about the
air war except gross tonnages and
sorties has been kept from the public
by classifying it secret. Official sta
tistics released on the air war are
now more bare-bones than ever, and
press briefings are designed to ac
centuate the positive rather than
provide hard facts on the continuing
U. S. role in the war. Most recently,
for the first time since bombing of
North Vietnam began eight years
ago, the U. S. Command in Saigon
refused to give out figures on the
number of planes flying missions in
the North.
In the face of this news blackout
on the air war 1 want to encourage
you, as the editor of your school’s
newspaper, to provide your readers
with candid information on this is
sue, and thus to join me in this
election year to force an end to the
war. Students have been leaders in
pointing out the tragedy and mistake
of Vietnam, and their help will now
be vital in turning out of office those
politicians who will not join us in
ending the war.
1 hope that those Americans
throughout the country who are con
cerned about the immorality of the
war will attend political meetings
wherever there is a candidate, and
ask him this very simple question:
“How do you stand on ending the
war?” If the candidate does not
stand for ending the war as provided
in my simple and clear proposal,
then I hope the American people
will not vote for him, for he does not
deserve to occupy a high position in
the government of this country.
S. 3409 now has fifteen cospon
sors in the Senate, and identical
legislation introduced in the House
of Representatives is supported by
44 members of that body.
If you need further information
on the legislation, please contact my
office or the National Student Lob
by, which is coordinating efforts on
behalf of this bill within the student
community.
Sincerely,
Senator Mike Gravel
(Dem.-Alaska)
H.E.L.P. Aids
Black Children
Healthy Environment for Little
People, familiarly identified as Proj
ect HELP, will be sponsored again
at Meredith during June 5-July 28.
Children from ages 6-13 living in
the Method Housing Development,
a low income black community, will
take part in the summer day camp.
The program is under the direction
of Mr. Don Songer.
Camp activities will be organized
on a small group basis, with eight or
nine campers under the guidance of
one counselor throughout the day
from 9:00 until 3:00.
Activities will be carried out by a
staff including four Meredith stu
dents: Leary Davis, Jenifer Miller,
Celeste Till, and Cathy White. Three
males, two high school students and
one man supported by the Baptist
State Convention, will also serve on
the staff.
It is hoped that this year’s Project
HELP will expand to an eight week
camp session with a capacity for
sixty campers. Fund raising efforts
for $4,800 needed to support this
expansion are underway. $3,200
have been pledged so far. Meredith
students and faculty are asked to
contribute to Project HELP.