Hello!

My name is Caroline Smith and I am a pro-life activist and colleague of Lauren Handy, whom you know through her organization Mercy Missions. As you may know, Lauren has recently been put behind bars in Alexandria, VA, following her conviction for an abortion Rescue she participated in in 2020. This pre-sentencing incarceration was a shock to us all, as we were told she would have until sentencing before she was put behind bars. However, the courts decided otherwise. Because of this unforeseen circumstance, Lauren was not able to send you the following letter herself, and has asked me to play messenger and send it to you.This is a letter that Lauren planned to send you before her sentencing this fall. I hope you will read it and please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

Caroline Smith

Letter from Lauren Handy to her supporters as Mercy Missions: The end is a new beginning

Hello friend! This has been a long time coming update about myself and Mercy Missions. I have started, stopped, and started this letter many times, but as I will most likely soon be incarcerated for nonviolent pro-life activism, the time to contact you has come.

I first want to extend my greatest thanks to you for being a supporter of Mercy Missions all these years. Your generosity has made it possible for me to help hundreds of families and individuals all across the country.

Most people don’t know that Mercy Missions started after I returned home from Haiti in 2017. As I was there living and working with Mother Teresa’s Order of the Missionaries of Charity, I learned to live out the teachings of loving the person in front of you as literally loving and serving Jesus. The Imago Dei often haunts me, inspires me, and pushes me to the extreme of Love. Port-au-Prince was my crucible where I worked at a children’s hospice. Taking care of children dying of the effects of starvation and AIDs. Under the intense pressure and suffering, a passion so deep and steadfast was born that still sustains my work 6 years later. In this blog post, you can learn more about my time in Haiti and how it shaped me to become the person I am today.

Since then, Mercy Missions has raised almost $85,000, and we have a lot of impact to show because of this. Over 800 children would not be here today without the support I have received over the years. Without that support, I could never have started a community house in Baton Rouge where I was able to feed and house those who needed support. I would never have been able to take care of Mayson, a baby I saved from abortion who needed someone to care for him while his mom got back on her feet. I would never have been able to care for families and houseless folks, raise money for burials for abortion victims, donate money to jail commissaries and pay phone bills for incarcerated people to stay connected with their families and communities. Without you, none of this would have been possible. So, thank you so much for all you have allowed me to do.

In the spring of 2022, I found myself in another crucible after several life-changing things happened almost at the same time. I went through the acute devastation of recovering the remains of 115 aborted babies, I was arrested for allegedly violating the FACE act, and I served two stints in jail for civil disobedience actions. After this tumultuous year, I found myself asking, what’s next? Where do I go from here?

I believe there is a season for everything, and for Mercy Missions I believe it's time to move to something bigger. The sun is setting for this organization, but a new horizon is growing with my work at PAAU, the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising.

I feel encouraged and optimistic about this change, as the work that I began and grew at Mercy Missions will continue at PAAU. Mercy Missions set out with a purpose of going towards the most abandoned in the world and loving the person in front of you with everything you have. This radical love that I have learned to have will continue at PAAU.

Logistically, it has been difficult to try to run two organizations since PAAU started 2 years ago, especially with my two stints in jail. The administrative aspect of Mercy Missions has suffered because of this time constraint. For sustainability purposes, I am moving all my current projects over to PAAU since I am doing all my outreaches and activism full time with PAAU at this point.

Before I went to jail in Flint for 34 days last year for a 2019 action, I worked to move all the moms I was currently mentoring over to local and national organizations to help tie up loose ends because at that time there was a possibility of two years in Flint. Thank God it was only 34 days, but it made me seriously pause and recognize that I needed the organizational structure that PAAU provides going forward. Since my release, I have shifted my focus to helping moms who are pregnant and incarcerated as well as moms I meet during my weekly sidewalk counseling efforts in Washington, DC.

One aspect that I am really excited about adding as I continue my work with PAAU is mentoring and training young people for prolife action. I have the opportunity to work with organizers all over the county who are getting started in their activism and who need someone who has experience to teach them. It has been so encouraging to see the younger people I have worked with during my time at PAAU grow into strong leaders protecting the unborn.

At my home base in DC, we recently got an “Activist House” where I live along with other PAAU staff members. Young people from across the country have been able to come and learn, train, and practice their skills. Having this Activist House has made a world of difference in my ability to raise up the next generation of strong and loving prolife activists.

As I mentioned before, your support over the years has helped me reach so many families in need. Although my work is now under a different organization, I am still in need of support for the moms that I help in DC. I have introduced the project of Mutual Aid Share Fairs at PAAU, and I am in need of funding to help purchase items to hand out on the streets in our community to those who need them. At the link below, you can read more about my projects at PAAU and what I am currently raising money for. Just scroll to the bottom of the webpage and you can read all about my projects!

LINK: https://paaunow.org/support-lauren

I am truly thankful for your continued support, and I want to ask you to continue supporting me in my work at PAAU and beyond. It is people like you who make it possible for me to make a difference in the world, and to love my neighbor as myself in real and tangible ways.

On November 1, I will be stopping donations to Mercy Missions. I really hope to see you continue to support me as I make these changes that I know are the right thing to do.

If you are willing and able to continue supporting me as I make these changes, please click here and see the donation form at the top. You’ll see that you can select from a list of projects and focus areas that you are most interested in supporting.

Please let me know if you have any questions or prayer requests. And once again, I went to thank you for the support and kindness you have shown me over the years! God bless you.

In solidarity,

Lauren

Thank you so much for reading. As I said above, it was Lauren’s dearest wish and intention to be able to send this to you all directly from her, but it seems as if God had other plans. During her time in jail so far, Lauren has been able to witness to others in a way that is rarely possible. The people who she can reach inside jail are the forgotten of the forgotten, and Lauren has an opportunity to love them with all that she has. In addition, Lauren is continuing to mentor and train young activists from inside the jail over phone calls, messages, and letters. She is still actively organizing and leading PAAU even with this additional hindrance.

Her work behind bars is the culmination of the vision of both Mercy Missions and PAAU; to love without reservation and to reach those who have been cast aside by society. Lauren lives that out every single day without regret.

I really encourage you to consider continuing to support Lauren and her work as she moves to this new platform. Her work will continue to grow with your generosity.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions or would like information on how to contact Lauren in jail. I am eager to help you!

For life,

Caroline Smith

P.S. Want to support Lauren, but not through PAAU? Check out her Paypal link and her GiveSendGo link.