The Rose City Rollers derby rink at Oaks Park was abuzz with laughter, clanking, and singing on Saturday night.
Dozens of families from the Family Preservation Project—also called F-P-P—joined a roller derby session for the nonprofit’s holiday extravaganza.
FPP is a nonprofit that operates out of Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, the only women’s prison in Oregon.
The goal is to keep mothers connected with their children during incarceration and beyond.
Speaker 1:
FPP is a holistic program that is really comprehensive. It's it gives you hope while you're in prison, but it also teaches you how to be a human and an adult.
Speaker 2:
I hope it goes to more prisons, because it helped me with visiting my mom and spend time with my mom. But I have a dad that's been also there.
And I lost the connection with my dad in the years that he was there. So it's, I mean, the program did help me stay connected with my mom.
Attendees made holiday cards to send to people still inside. Mothers wrapped gifts for their children together in a room to the side of the roller derby rink.
Speaker 1:
Well, the reason why I'm able to parent was able to parent my children when I got out of prison was because of FPP. They taught me to have confidence in myself when I'd given up on myself. And the reason why I still participate in FPP events ten years later is because every single time there's an event, it shows the success.
Speaker 3:
Hi, this is Desiree Peppers. And to me, FPP was everything. There was a time period where I didn't even talk to my child for 11 months, but they helped me get through that and get over the fear of loving my child. Because I learned to love myself. And in turn, it really created a connection with my daughter. It's been my backbone, and it's helped me heal in so many ways.
Speaker 4:
It means opportunity. It means growing together as a family, that we can get along as moms. We can support each other, with other moms. Our kids can know other kids, and especially dad. Kids understand what we went through, and we connect because we went through the same thing, being in prison, and that means a lot.
Candice Murphy, FPP class of 2019, says that FPP has been a backbone for her.
They've been there for me when I wasn't there for myself. They help me with bonding with my children from the inside and out. And I just want to say thank you.
Jessica Katz is the Founding Director of FPP. She says that fun is the purpose of today.
Why is this important? Someone asked me this the other day, and, like, why do you do this? It's such chaos. And so it's so much work. And I was like, because people who, who have been police for their whole lives, like their joy, has also been policed.
And so this is just for joy. It's just for community. It's just for joy. There's no agenda. We're not trying to raise money. We're not trying to sell anybody anything. But we are trying to offer joy to people for whom it has not been abundant. That's it.
Holiday Extravaganza closed with a holiday carol.
- KBOO