DETROIT (WXYZ) — For the people stepping inside an orange phone booth, it's a glimpse into a painful reality for 1 in 10 children in Michigan only being able to communicate with their incarcerated parent through collect calls.
Watch Meghan Daniels' video report below:
"This is a prepaid call from an inmate at the county correctional facility," plays the system-generated message that has become an all-too-familiar sound for thousands of Michigan children.
"I felt extremely isolated. I felt like no other person in my classroom or neighborhood might have had parents incarcerated because it's something kind of pushed under the rug and you don't really communicate about it," said Sherelle Hogan, founder of the Pure Heart Foundation.
Four in 10 children in Detroit are growing up with at least one parent incarcerated, only able to maintain a relationship with their mom or dad through jail-house phone calls.
Hogan says she is working to support kids growing up the way she did.
"We wanted to create this campaign to not only spread awareness but also provide financial support to make sure that connection coming at a cost is not what's holding scholars back from maintaining a relationship," Hogan said.
Hogan created The Call of Impact — a little orange phone booth where users can step inside and put themselves in the shoes of those who are incarcerated.
"All phone calls are subject to recording and monitoring," plays another automated message inside the booth.
"It took them back to when they were the child talking to their incarcerated parent or when they were incarcerated thinking about their child hearing their voice on the other side," Hogan said.
This experience highlights the reality many people, like Freda Major and her son Henry Francis, face every day.
"This situation is very unfortunate, but it's nothing that he did. So it's OK to discuss it, it's OK to feel however you feel," Major said.
"It felt like I had a resource or something I could go to when I needed it," Francis said.
The Call of Impact will be on tour starting Saturday. For more information on how to get involved or where you can find The Call of Impact phone booth, visit pureheartpoundation.org.
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