MVFR’s Mission

Founded in 1976, Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation (MVFR) is a national organization of family members of victims of both homicide and executions who oppose the death penalty in all cases. MVFR includes people of many different perspectives. Because violent crime cuts across a broad spectrum of society, our members are geographically, racially and economically diverse.

Highlights

Welcome! We are happy you found us and hope you will sign up for our action alerts. We currently have high-level campaigns in New Mexico, North Carolina, and California; additionally we are actively working for abolition in all states that continue to execute.

Over the next year we expect to expand our presence in additional, targeted states by recruiting, training and mobilizing family members. MVFR will roll out more resources for our members, speak at more events and raise awareness through the media by telling our stories.

Charlotte Author’s New Memoir Tackles Grief and Forgiveness

When Therese Bartholomew’s younger brother Steve was shot and killed in Greenville, SC, she wondered how she would survive without him. Bartholomew’s powerful new memoir, Coffee Shop God, details her struggle to adjust in the weeks and months following her brother’s untimely death.

In this collection of essays, Bartholomew questions her spirituality in the midst of bond hearings, debilitating grief and a new marriage. As she heals, she strives to connect with the family she has left—the mother who always has a joke, the father who cannot show affection, the ex-drug-dealing brother who is now an evangelical Christian and the talking bird she inherits from her brother—while learning to forgive the young man who killed Steve.

Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, calls Coffee Shop God “a moving account of the author’s struggle to make sense of life, faith, and humanity after the tragic loss of her brother.” A featured selection in Central Piedmont Community College’s ArtsFest 2009, Coffee Shop God offers a roadmap to anyone who has experienced loss and gazed uncertainly into the future.

Bartholomew’s forthcoming documentary film, The Final Gift, explores the life story of her brother’s killer and the broader issues of the criminal justice system. For more information on The Final Gift, please visit www.thefinalgiftfilm.com.

Therese Bartholomew, a former high school dropout and teen mother, is now a writer, teacher, speaker and activist for victims and offenders. She holds a MS in criminal justice from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

To schedule an interview or a speaking engagement, please contact Therese at: 704-806-1732 or therese@thefinalgiftfilm.com

Please contact after April 20, 2009 for advance copies. Books available to the public for purchase April 26, 2009 at www.thefinalgiftfilm.com, local booksellers and Amazon.com.

Upcoming Events (open to the public):

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 – CPCC Live! Tate Hall, Central Campus, Charlotte, NC, 6:30 pm

Thursday, April 23, 2009 – Johnson and Wales Auditorium, Charlotte, NC, 12:00 pm

Sunday, April 26, 2009 – Book Release Party, The Evening Muse, 3227 North Davidson St, Charlotte, NC 28205, 6:30 pm