MORGANTOWN – Nearly 30 volunteers turned out to the Ascend WV headquarters Wednesday evening to wrap books for incarcerated individuals across Appalachia as part of the Appalachian Prison Book Project.
This was the third community wrapping party of the season and one more holiday wrap is planned at First Presbyterian Church, said APBP president Connie Banta.
“This has been a great showing,” she said. “Every time there’s a few more people.” Wrapping parties are scheduled for two hours, but last time, they had so many volunteers they finished in just an hour.
The APBP – its offices are on the second floor of the Aull Center, next to the Morgantown Public Library – was founded in 2004. Banta said they have sent out nearly 75,000 books to inmates in about in 200 participating federal, state and local facilities in West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia and Tennessee.
Inmates, Banta said, write to APBP describing the type of book they wish to receive. Volunteers at the Aull Center headquarters try to match a book to an inmate’s request for the wrapping party.
Volunteers place the books in a poly mailing envelope and address them. Banta takes the wrapped books to another volunteer who will take them to the post office.
APBP relies on donation of books and funds to cover postage, she said.
Sometimes an inmate will get more than one book – if they express an interest in also receiving something like a composition book, a spiritual text or a reference book.
Volunteers represented various student groups – Women in Politics and Government, Student Support Services and Campus Presbyterians among them – and the Rotary.
Lilliana Strahan is part of the Women in Politics and Government Group. She explained why she came Wednesday night.
“I just like giving back to the community and I think this is really important to allow for educational and literary resources into facilities ,” she said. “You never know anyone’s story and everyone deserves a chance.”
You can contact APBP at AppalachianPBP@gmail.com, or learn more about the project at https://appalachianprisonbookproject.org.
