News & Events

Back-to-School is Better with the AIM School Supplies Project

It can be uncomfortable and embarrassing for a child to show up for the first day of a new school year without the right supplies or clothing. Many of the families that AIM works with struggle to afford the long list of required school supplies, let alone clothes that fit well and are in good shape.

You can sponsor a child and give him or her a head start in the new school year. Your donation of $75 goes to sponsor a child of an inmate mother, providing new school supplies and uniforms. Churches, civic groups and individuals are all encouraged to donate!

The children AIM works with are dealing with losing their mothers to incarceration and being sent to live with family or friends. Not having the right tools to succeed in school puts them at a further disadvantage and hurts their confidence and self-worth.

The School Supply Program provides 100 children across Alabama with supplies and uniforms. Any contribution to this program will make a big difference for these children.

Donate now to sponsor a child in time for the start of the school year!

The Storybook Project Gets Video Cameras

Children who look forward each month to receiving audio tapes from their mothers will now have an even better surprise — a video! Through a federal stimulus grant provided through the Birmingham Area United Way, we now have hand-held video cameras to record the mothers reading.

The Storybook Project is one of our most popular outreach programs. Mothers read books into a tape recorder, and the recordings are sent to their children each month along with the book. With the new cameras, we can now send DVDs so the children can see their mothers in addition to hearing their voices.

Many children either don’t have transportation or live out of state, so these DVDs are the only time they can see their mothers. We are excited to bring this new technology to the program and make it better than ever!

The Genesis Project: Building a Transitional Home

We are excited to announce that we have been funded through the Montgomery Junior League, the South Central Alabama Communities Foundation and the Montgomery-based Women’s Giving Circle to start a group home for women in need of transitional housing.

When women are released from prison, they leave with little more than the clothes on their back. Through the Genesis Project, we will be able to help them during the reentry period by providing a safe, comfortable home where they can continue to receive counseling and support. The home can provide a needed buffer between living in prison and being completely independent.

We are currently looking at a property to purchase and trying to raise the $10,000 needed for a down payment. Help us make this vision a reality by donating today!

World AIDS Day 2011: Women at Tutwiler mark 30 years of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic

As a candle was lit, a hush settled over the group of at least 75 women attending Thursday evening's program to celebrate World AIDS Day.  A woman in white boldly walked to the front and lit her candle and spoke her word of inspiration; Success.  Another woman approached to light her candle, with her chosen word, Understanding, and in turn each of the women living with HIV lit their candle with a word: Courage, Education, Strength,Acceptance, and Survival.  After all the candles were lit, we observed a moment of silence to reflect on the many lives lost and changed forever by the disease known as AIDS.

The program was used as a time to educate.  As one of the women put it, "Don't be irresponsible, know your status, know your partner's status.  Help us end discrimination and ignorance, educate those around you.  This epidemic affects all of us."

The program continued with poems, music, reflections, and many tears.  Tears shed for the challenges ahead, the fear overcome, the pain of telling family.  "This is the year for Zero," said Greg Underwood, HIV Educator.  " Zero deaths, zero new infections, zero discrimination. We are looking at the end of the AIDS epidemic."

"We have come a long way in 30 years," said AIM Director Carol Potok.  "But we still have to keep pushing.  We want HIV/AIDS to go the way of the polio infecton-something that our grandchildren jsut read about in history books.  We want a vaccine, we want a cure.  It's within our reach if we keep reaching."