Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth to learn more about what we do, and to those who donated and bought swag! We were able to raise nearly $500 in postage funds to send more books to prisoners.

Our current needs are puzzle books like crosswords and sudoku. They usually have a ton of variety at Dollar Tree!

 

 

Due to the heat, we will be meeting off-site for a bit! Join us any Wednesday from 5:30-7:30 at Sneaky Beans. We have a lot of miscellaneous work to do, with a focus on a prisoner art fundraiser. Got some ideas? Bring em. Sign up here.

We’re excited for the opportunity to help Jeff and his peers with improving their library. Vocational books are not donated to us very often and are a bit pricier than novels, but are extremely useful in helping inmates learn skills that can later be used on the outside. Some of the requested topics include plumbing, electrical, framing, concrete finishing, ceramic tile setting, landscaping, drafting, mechanical drawing, and data mining. We have added some ideas to our wish list as well. Can you help us find some of these books? Whether you find them at home, online, or at the thrift store, we would very much appreciate it. We will be preparing a car load of paperbacks to bring to their library with the help of Chaplain Abel.

Special thank you to Eddie for building us all new gigantic shelves, and to Helen and Josh for delivering! We can’t wait to install them on Tuesday. 🙌🙌🙌 Step ladders would be extra helpful for us to make the most of our new storage space. If you have one you can donate, we would appreciate it a ton! 

Despite its obviously frumpy appearance, we made a lot of progress on reorganizing our space today. Love to Ash, Keren and Brittany for making it happen. Here are some things we need:

1. Step stools- we will be getting some new shelves (thanks to Eddie and Helen) and they will be taller. 
2. Desk organizing stuff- we got rid of our big desk to make more space and need some handy ways to keep letters, post its, and various other office supplies. 
3. Postage funds! Of course. 

As our volunteer base and requests increase, we are tasked with finding ways to increase our fundraising to keep up. We started an Amazon store to sell the hardback books that we receive and are not able to send institutions. We need a volunteer who can run our online book store! It’s fun and easy.

 

What this volunteer will need:

-Phone or tablet that can run the Amazon seller app
-Printer
-Some space to keep books for sale

How it works:
The volunteer will scan book barcode and list the book in the marketplace by taking photos and describing book condition. When a book sells, the volunteer will print the shipping label and invoice (provided by Amazon) and stick the book in the mail. We’ll provide the books, tape and shipping envelopes.

 

Hit us up if you’re interested!