29333: Karshan: ANNOUNCEMENT: Alternative Chance (criminal deportee program) to give awards at benefit in NYC (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Michelle Karshan <michelle.karshan@gmail.com>

 *Press Release*

*Date:*  October 12, 2006
*Contact:* Michelle Karshan, Executive Director
*Telephone:* (New York): 212-613-6033 or 786-897-6572
*Email:* altchance@aol.com
*Website:* www.alternativechance.org


*Alternative Chance, Haiti's Criminal Deportee program, **to hold Awards &
Fundraising Dinner **in New York City on Saturday, October 28, 2006*
**
*Ten Years of Services & Advocacy for Haiti's Criminal Deportees*


*Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 12, 2006* -- Alternative Chance (Chans
Altenativ in Haitian Creole), a self-help, peer counseling and advocacy
program in Haiti for Criminal Deportees since 1996, will hold an Awards
Dinner and Fundraiser in downtown Brooklyn marking its Tenth Anniversary and
honoring those engaged in fighting the injustices of Criminal Deportation to
Haiti and those fighting for respect of the rights of Haitian Criminal
Deportees. The evening of solidarity, networking, Haitian food and
entertainment will be held Saturday, October 28, 2006, at 6 pm at the
Belarusian Church, 401 Atlantic Avenue, corner Bond Street, in downtown
Brooklyn, New York and will feature Special Guests of Honor, Ira J. Kurzban,
Esq. (leading Haitian refugee rights attorney, author of
Kurzban'sImmigration Law
Sourcebook, and former counsel to the Government of Haiti) and John P.
May, MD (Founder and Medical Director of Health through Walls -- providing
sustainable health care in prisons in developing countries).

The evening will include an authentic Haitian dinner, Silent Auction, Photo
Exhibit, Awards and remarks, including by Renal, who lived in Haiti as a
Criminal Deportee for a few years before returning to the US when his U.S.
citizenship was established. With the help of Alternative Chance, Renal got
a start as a rapper in Haiti, and now, in addition to his day job, continues
to rap while back in his home town in Florida.  Musical performances by
Renal, Riva Precil, Caitlin Karshan & Ahmed.  The silent auction will
include Haitian sequined & beaded art, a life-sized cloth & papier
mache Haitian
market woman statute, Haitian paintings and iron works, and other high
quality items. Michelle Karshan, returning from Haiti, will briefly comment
on her findings regarding current conditions for Criminal Deportees there.

Awards, presented in several categories to those who over the past ten years
contributed significantly, and courageously, over a long period of time, to
the plight of Haiti's Criminal Deportees, will go to (in alphabetical
order): Father James Aherne, Sisters Ann & Ellen, David Belle/Katherine Kean,
Samantha Black, Isabelle Braun, Olivia Cassin, Esq., Jennifer Cheek
Pantaleon, Yves Colon, Edwidge Danticat, Donna DeCesare, Rebecca Feldman,
Esq., Virginia Floyd/Janet Lugo, Steven David Forester, Esq., Thomas M.
Griffin, Esq., Ira J. Kurzban, Haiti's former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Fritz Longchamp, John P. May, MD, Privat Precil, Esq., Riva Precil, Andrew
Reding, Susan & Guy Renaud, Jan Voordouw, Jack Wallace, Esq.

A special thanks will be made to Jack Wallace, Esq., and a warm welcome
extended to Jessica Zagier, Esq., of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy
Coalition, who recently replaced Jack as a central resource for attorneys
and keeper of a data bank relating to legal representation for Haitian
Criminal Aliens in their deportation cases.

Brooklyn, where many Haitian Criminal Deportees grew up, attended schools,
and started families, is also the original home of Michelle Karshan, the
co-founder and Executive Director of Alternative Chance (Chans Altenativ).

For more information please see www.alternativechance.org or contact
Michelle Karshan at altchance@aol.com

*- 30 -*


--
Michelle Karshan
Michelle.Karshan@gmail.com
212-613-6033