Book Collection Drive
“To learn to read is to light a fire.” ― Victor Hugo
“It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”
― James Baldwin
“Books are the mirrors of the soul.”― Virginia Woolf
Inmates in Class at the California Rehabilitation Center, Norco CA
We are collecting books that will be made available to men and women incarcerated at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond, California.
To donate books please contact us at:
Thank you for your support.
A hunger for learning belongs to humans at all stages of life. For those incarcerated, no less than for anyone else, education is essential to finding one’s path forward. Prison education programs come in many forms, and the state of California stands at the forefront of developing them, ranging from individual classes that impart basic practical skills to full degree-granting programs. It is widely recognized today that the use by inmates of educational resources paves the way to increased employment opportunities post-release, and to lower rates of recidivism (return to incarceration).
In Richmond California, the West County Detention Facility offers innovative and essential programs to inmates. When I learned that this jail welcomes book donations, I saw this as a way in which we as a community could make a contribution. So I decided to build a book drive, where all of the books would go straight to the facility’s library and classrooms.
I got the word out to my friends, family, neighborhood and school community through flyers, emails and a school-wide announcement, and set up an event in a local park where people could come by to drop off their books. I expected to collect around 100 books, but I had no idea how interested so many people would be in contributing to this important cause. One Facebook post, for example, gathered attention from people in a nearby neighborhood, specifically from a director of a social action program at a university in Oakland, where I live. She contacted me to commend this project and to ask if there was any way she could provide support. I welcomed her offer and she contributed cardboard boxes that we used to transport the donated books. She also helped me to get the word out to an even larger pool of people.
On the day of the book drive event, I was beyond pleasantly surprised at the number and variety of books I collected. The people who stopped by brought bags and bags of books, enough to completely fill three cars! Many expressed how fortuitous this opportunity was because they had books that were just sitting idly on their shelves at home, but had never heard of such a compelling use for them. In total we collected approximately 400 books across many different genres: poetry, fantasy, philosophy, academics, self help and more. These books will play a significant role in helping inmates reclaim their lives through education. Beyond that, this project conveys to them a sense of support from a community of people who are willing to come together to contribute needed resources. As well, this gesture of solidarity raises awareness in my community here in the East Bay that we are capable – in a small but significant way – of changing the world we live in.