My Nonprofit Reviews

Never in my life did I think I would be involved in a prison ministry. And yet for almost 10 years, on the third Saturday of every month, I meet with a group of women for a meal and a pep talk. Then we split into two groups and go into two Texas state jails for a couple of hours. Every time you have to leave your ego and all your belongings in the car, screw up your courage, and submit to a pat down. You never know if it's going to take an hour or 15 minutes for everyone to be searched and get through all the routine (which is never routine!) and to the mothers. You spend a couple of hours helping these women be mothers to children they sometimes have not seen in years. They get to select a book and read it while we record them, encourage them, sing Happy Birthday with them, and sometimes cry with them. My particular role is to take that recording and burn a CD that is then mailed, along with the book, to the child. My child was read to every single night of his childhood. It's important on so many levels for children to be read to. This is an extremely well run nonprofit from the top to those of us going into the prisons monthly. And sometimes the top people go with us into the prisons! This is a hands-on labor of love and concern and there is a place in it for you. Volunteers are always needed in the prison visits but there are other ways to help. It's an amazing feeling when you walk out of prison. I always write on my hand how many offenders we worked with and how many books and CDs we are mailing. That stays on my hand for a day or two but think how long hearing their mother's voice reading a book will stay with these children!