BOOKS FOR PEOPLE IN PRISON - PLEASE HELP!
I've know Kay Allison at Quest Institute (also
Quest Bookstore) for many years. The work she does helping inmates
in prison
is legendary - and with a minumum of funds. Now, her largest request
from prisoners is for dictionaries. She needs your help with this
one. Read on, as the story she tells
is so touching. Should you choose to help out, send donations to Quest
Institute, P. O. Box 3265, Charlottesville, VA 22903 –Thanks,
PMH
Dear Friends,
I want to thank those of you have donated books for people in prison.
Sending free books to those who can't afford to buy them is very
rewarding to us and
to them. We have sent thousands of free books to grateful inmates over the
past ten years and they are greatly appreciated. Word of free books has
spread throughout the prisons in Virginia and we are receiving
many more requests for all kinds of books, especially dictionaries, self-help,
mysteries, good novels and books on African American history. We supplied a
whole cooking class at Lunenberg with great cookbooks, thanks to you all!
When we started getting so many requests for dictionaries, I bought
some good ones , Webster's Dictionary and Thesaurus, with some
grant money that I
received and have been sending those out as we receive requests for them. We
were getting a lot of requests from Augusta Correctional Center in Craigsville.
Several weeks ago one of the instructors called and wanted information about
the free dictionaries. She wanted to know if any of the men could get them and
I told her that they could. I asked if the men were really using them or were
they just using them as barter to get something else. She said," Oh, yes,
they are using them! Dictionaries are like gold! A man will give three
packs of cigarettes to get a dictionary." In a few days we started getting
10 to 20 letters a day from there! One of the inmates enclosed one of the flyers
that she had printed and posted around the prison. "FREE DICTIONARIES! SEND
A LETTER WITH A PERMISSION FORM FROM PERSONAL PROPERTY TO QUEST BOOKSHOP
AND YOU WILL RECEIVE ONE IN TWO OR THREE WEEKS. THESE ARE GOOD DICTIONARIES! " We
have been inundated with letters and requests! We can tell from some of the letters
that they need a dictionary as it was a struggle for them write the letter. Many
of them seem to be young boys from some of the letters that they sent along
with the requests.
"Thank you so much for doing this for us!. " " We
don't have money and this is such a wonderful gift." " We
are not all bad people in here, we just got mixed up with drinking and drugs." "We
can only get a small pocket dictionary in here and it doesn't have many of the
words that I need to look up for my courses." " I
can't believe that there is someone out there who hasn't forgotten about us
behind these walls.! God bless you!"
So far, we have sent about 300 dictionaries to that prison....and
there are over 1000 inmates there.! We are also getting letters
asking if we have other
books
that we can send.
I am very grateful that Garth Kemper asked one day as he saw the
boxes of books
in the back room if I needed any help. "Yes!" was my answer! He
is an angel sent!! He volunteers 2- 3 days a week, organizes the donated books
and fills the requests for the inmates. He says that he is being blessed
and rewarded by reading these letters and sending answers and books to these
men who are reaching out to try and educate themselves while they are in prison.
We know that as they have more confidence in themselves and feel better
about themselves, that there is a ripple effect, out to others within the prison,
to their wives and children and other family members. We are changing the world,
one dictionary at a time!
I am curious and will ask the warden and the instructor if they
can see a difference in the behaviour of the men and in the atmosphere
of the prison. We will be taking
the books and dictionaries in Garth's truck to the Augusta Correctional Center
soon to save on postage.
This is an effort of the Quest Institute, Inc. which is a non-profit, 501
(c) (3) tax exempt organization. Donations are gladly accepted and as we
anticipate many more requests from other counselors and inmates, we are asking
those who would like to support this project, to send a check to Quest Institute,
P.O. Box 3265, Charlotteville, VA. 22903 and I will send you a receipt with much
gratitude.
This coming Wednesday Garth and I are taking a truck load of books
to Goochland
to the librarian at the Women's prison and for one of the counselors
at Powhatan Correctional Center who will come to meet us there. She said that
one of the counselors from Beaumont Correctional Center wanted to come ,too,
to see if there were any books for juveniles. As you may have guessed by now,
money to buy books for prison libraries is very limited and the teachers and
counselors who work with these folks are always looking for books for them since
one of the few things one can do in prison is read.
So if any of you have books that would be appropriate for juveniles,
I would be very glad to have them and take them to this counselor.
We would need to have
them by Tuesday afternoon .
Sincerely,
Kay Allison
Quest Institute, Inc.
