Freethehikers.org

This is a completely grassroots effort, funded entirely by family and friends, so the work needs to be a volunteer offering.

You may already be familiar with the situation:
Three young people, all with connections to the San Francisco Bay Area, were hiking in an unmarked border area in Kurdistan, and reportedly crossed the border into Iran. They have been detained in an Iranian prison since July 31, 2009, with very minimal contact from the outside world. Monday marks the 200th day of their detainment. During this time, their mothers have not received a single phone call from them.

All three have worked in various ways to promote social & environmental justice. Sarah and Shane were living in the middle east teaching and studying. Josh was visiting Sarah and Shane when this incident happened. You can read a lot more about them at www.freethehikers.org

Also, read the opinion piece in today’s Chronicle, written by their three moms:

“Iran should free our children”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/02/13/EDLL1C0OHH.DTL

Their specific request for assistance is for a few hours of consulting to help them craft a fund-raising campaign letter & materials. This would probably take place over the phone, as they are in different parts of the country. They have some experienced people already lined up who they expect will be able to help them tighten things up after the initial consult, so it’s really just getting them started with the basic building blocks of the campaign.
If you are available to support this work, please contact Barbara Oldershaw at BarbaraOldershaw@sbcglobal.net . We’ve already had one phone consult, in which I shared my understanding of the primary challenges they’ll be facing, and I am happy to share the content of that conversastion with you as well.

Thanks in advance for considering this request, and feel free to forward this to other folks who might be interested.