The Change Mobile & journey to Save Rodney's Life!

Wana Akpan- Reed Justice Initiative's Treasurer- is listed as the beneficiary of this GoFundMe.  Reed Justice Initiative is a collaborative led by the immediate family members of Rodney Reed.

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Texas has scheduled to execute my brother Rodney Reed on November 20, 2019 and we need to act fast! We need your help to take his story all across America to save his life!

Evidence points to the fact that Jimmy Fennell- a former Giddings, TX police officer who was engaged to the murder victim, Ms. Stacey Stites- murdered Ms. Stites on April 22, 1996; angry she was having an affair with my brother Rodney- a black man. Evidence also points to the fact that Fennell's friends- fellow police officers- were involved in the murder of Ms. Stites somehow, as their DNA was on beer cans found at the crime scene. Several family members and friends of Ms. Stites also believe Fennell got away with murdering her. Here is a letter written by members of Ms. Stites's family detailing this: https://www.reedjusticeinitiative.com/seeking-justice-for-stacey-stites-a-letter-from-members-of-her-family/ 

There is a strong belief that Bastrop County and several agencies and entities in Texas are covering up for Fennell and those who helped him.

We are standing strong and taking our fight all across the United States, shouting with every bit of breath in our body “FREE RODNEY REED, RODNEY REED IS INNOCENT, TEST THE DNA, and GRANT RODNEY REED A NEW TRIAL!” until my brother is free and alive in our arms!

We need everyone's help to save Rodney’s life and to bring him home alive! This is what we need specifically:

1. The Change Mobile itself: The Change Mobile will be our transportation and lodging on this journey across the country. We need a drivable motor home that will sleep 5 or more so we can get as many people as possible with us on this journey.

While we are not picky, we are not considering Craiglist listings as we are wanting something from within our trusted network, so we can be confident the motor home does not have any unmentioned major mechanical issues. If you or someone you know has a drivable motor home without mechanical issues that we can either have or get at a really low price, please get in touch with us at [phone redacted]. Something well-maintained and only requiring simple fixes would be a Blessing!

If none of these options work out, the money we raise from our GoFundMe will go towards the down payment for a used, low-cost motor home.

2. Financial assistance with the cost of living on the road for at least two months with my family (longer if need be). We are making it our full-time job to do everything in our power to ensure Texas does not execute Rodney for a crime he had nothing to do with. In the beginning of this journey, we are asking for a financial boost in the amount of $3500 to ensure we have a strong start.

3. A journalist or journalism intern. We don't have the funds to compensate this individual, but we will be able to- with your support- provide them with lodging, food, and the experience of a lifetime! All this will be made possible with The Change Mobile.

The urgency of this situation requires us to take Rodney's story outside of Texas, too. We need to get from Texas to LA to NYC and several key locations in between, strategically connecting with major media outlets every step of the way, to make sure the entire world knows how Texas is trying to wrongfully execute my brother.

In each city and town we travel to, we will organize rallies, vigils, and press conferences with the support of both our death penalty abolition and innocence networks in those places. We will work to get as much media attention as possible everywhere we go and the public support of people with high visibility so we can get Rodney’s story everywhere!

Texas is trying to take my brother’s life again- for a crime committed by other people. He has already lost over 20 years of his life for something he did not do. This pain has been too much- on my mother who is getting up in age, my brothers, Rodney's children, and the rest of my family. We need this nightmare to end.

We pray this is the last fundraiser we’ll ever need to have for Rodney and that our fight will be over very soon with him alive and well in our arms. In the meantime, we could really use these funds as a boost for our cross-country journey to amplify Rodney's story and to bring him home alive.

We will also leverage the power of social media to amplify his case.

We’re asking you to connect with us on each of these if you haven’t already:

https://www.facebook.com/reedjusticeinitiative/ 
https://www.instagram.com/reedjusticeinitiative/ 
https://twitter.com/BringRodneyHome/ 

to stay up to date with us as we go from city to city across America and to also help us raise awareness about our fight to save Rodney's life.

We're asking you to use the following hashtags and messages in all of your social media posts related to Rodney: READ #PSALM64, #RODNEYREEDISINNOCENT, #TESTTHEDNA for #RODNEYREED, #GRANTRODNEYREEDANEWTRIAL! Let's #BRINGRODNEYHOME alive!

Please help us save my brother's life so my family can be whole again! God Bless!

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For more info:

Visit https://www.reedjusticeinitiative.com/to-bastrop-county-district-attorney-bryan-goertz/ 

The first paragraph of this blog post includes links to each of the documentaries and specials that have been produced about Rodney's case: https://www.reedjusticeinitiative.com/help-remove-this-knife-from-the-reed-family/ 

Rodney is represented by the Innocence Project. More info on Rodney's case can be found here in this Innocence Project petition. Please sign it if you haven't already! : https://www.innocenceproject.org/stand-with-rodney-reed-on-texas-death-row/ )

Bastrop County District Attorney Bryan Goertz filed the retaliatory motion to execute: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6198957-Reed-Motion-to-Strike-Hearing.html 

Judge Shaver signed off on the motion, giving the greenlight to move forward with the execution: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Bastrop-County-man-scheduled-for-execution-amid-14145445.php