A surge for SURJ gets racial justice group closer to goal for permanent fund

A sudden boost in cash has the fundraising picture for the La Crosse SURJ group looking a little brighter for this year.

SURJ — Showing up for Racial Justice — was the winner of the La Crosse SOUP crowdfunding event at Copeland Park on Tuesday night.

A windfall of $3,500 to go towards the group’s Busting Barriers program, meant to help the transition from incarceration to living in the community for people of color.

“Our hopes is that this will mean we’re that much closer to our goal of creating an endowed fund that will be sustainable and generate funds every year starting in 2020,” Joella Striebel, with the group, said.

The money in the program goes towards things like personal items for a job interview to testing supplies at Western Technical College, which coordinates with SURJ on the program.

“Our fundraising goal for this year was $12,000 with the first $2,000 going towards funding our project for 2019 and then 10,000 to create that sustainable endowment through the Western Foundation,” Striebel said.

She added the money used to help pay for those things that may seem insignificant — like getting a ride to a job interview — but it can have a big impact on someone trying to put his or her life together after spending time behind bars.

Striebel said having the community support means plenty.

“It feels pretty incredible,” she said. “We are really overwhelmed and just really grateful to the community.”