On Thursday, March 2nd the Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project is holding a Pack-A-Thon at its space next to Boxcar Books and Community Center at 310 S Washington Street, near the corner of Third and Washington Streets, across from Third Street Park. The event will start at 5pm on Thursday and go all night until 5am on Friday, March 3rd!
The Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project currently has a backlog of book requests from prisoners that spans nearly three months. With the help of Pack-A-Thon volunteers, we hope to reduce that backlog to two months!
Volunteers at the Pack-A-Thon will be reading letters sent from prisoners, filling requests for books from our collection of books donated by members of the Bloomington community, and packaging those books so that they are ready to be mailed. No prior experience is necessary, and training will be provided to new volunteers on the hour, every hour.
While we hope to get a lot of work done, this will also be a fun and festive event, so bring music, snacks and beverages to share, as well as everyone you know!
For more information, contact the Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project at midwestpagestoprisoners@yahoo.com, pagestoprisoners.org, or 812.339.8710.
For those unable to attend this special event, Pages meets several times every week to help send books to the imprisoned. The regularly scheduled meeting times are Mondays from 7-9pm, Thursdays from 7-11pm, and Sundays from 2-5pm.
The Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project is an all volunteer effort that strives to encourage self-education among prisoners in the United States. By providing free reading materials upon request, we hope to aid in the rehabilitation process and stimulate critical thinking behind bars.
The Midwest Pages to Prisoners project is an organization made up of volunteers working in their spare time to provide free books to prisoners. Our volunteers are concerned citizens and activists interested in rehabilitation, rather than punishment.
The project exists to alleviate pain, boredom, and attrition and to provide a direct opportunity for self-education. Additionally, we exist because prison libraries sometimes fail in this respect, and are understocked, or are only able to be patronized during specific and limited hours.