Get Involved with the Prison Book Program!
The Prison Book Program is always looking for volunteers to help with our efforts. Volunteers in the program help with one or more of the following activities:
- Communicate with librarians and chaplains in Michigan correctional facilities to identify reading needs, and with Friends’ groups in local public libraries and book sales.
- Collect used books from area public libraries, book sales, and other places.
- Sort and pack collected books based on requests from prison facilities
- Deliver materials to correctional facilities and distribution centers.
- Promote the program within UUAA and elsewhere
Volunteer opportunities are announced via our group email list and teams are formed to support each activity. The amount of time involved with each of these volunteer opportunities will vary. In general, collecting books and sorting materials takes 1-2 hours. Depending on the location, the delivery of materials could be 1-2 hours for local institutions or 2-3 for more distant locations (including a team lunch!). Some of our activities (sorting and delivery) may require lifting boxes of books.
To get involved and join our mailing list, contact us at prisonbooks@uuaa.org.
The Prison Books Program is a Faith in Action program under the UUAA Social Justice Council. We are grateful to our volunteers, for the use of church space, and for the continued sponsorship of the program by the Social Justice Council.
Donating Books
The Prison Books Program accepts book donations in support of our work. Materials should be in good condition, recently published (within the last 5-10 years), with no writing included in the book. Preference is for paperback books. Most of our activities focus on books for adults, but we do also collect juvenile materials for use by children of visitors and facility reading programs.
In general, there is always a need for the following materials:
- Paperback fiction (no romance)
- Paperback non-fiction, particularly history
- Spanish-language materials (no textbooks or how-to)
- ACT/SAT prep-books
- Self-help, instructional books for life skills
- English language dictionaries
- How-to art and creative writing books
If you are interested in donating materials, please contact us at prisonbooks@uuaa.org