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Meet the Featured Volunteers for Fall 2025: The Wednesday morning shift

  • doughathaway5
  • Sep 27
  • 2 min read
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You don't see the Wednesday morning shift on the weekly sign-up sheet, even though any volunteer is welcome from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm. When they returned after quarantine in 2021, the regulars voted down the post-covid limit of eight volunteers per shift. They chose to risk contagion rather than turn away anyone who wanted to join them.


Pat, who hosts the shift every Wednesday, nominated the entire shift for this quarter's Featured Volunteers. "I admire the consistency, comradery and work excellence of the group. There is a core group that are there week after week. They are committed to the work and enjoy the socialization. It's a great pleasure to work with them!"


Many of them have been coming in for years. What keeps them coming back?


"It's the social aspect," explained one volunteer, who started in 2018. "And you feel like you're doing something that makes a difference."


"We've got some pretty nice people who are interesting and fun." said another.


Two people said they got first got involved because they lived near one of our old addresses, and noticed our sandwich board. Another said that she'd come to love books over her eighteen-year career with UW Publishing.


It was a challenge to adapt out usual Featured Volunteer Q & A to such a large group. As some of the respondents asked not to be identified, none of them are. We've taken one answer from a different person for each question.


Is there anything you especially like about volunteering with us? What are your favorite parts of the process?


"Looking for books that match the requests in the letters can be frustrating, but it's so fascinating when you really get a good match!"


Everybody starts off responding to letters, even if they eventually move on to wrapping or other tasks. Some of the letters can be memorable. Are there any requests that surprised you, or that you remember standing out in any way?


"Once I answered a letter. I didn't expect to hear from the person again. Months later, I opened an envelope and it was a thank-you letter from the person who got the books."


In the time that you’ve been here, do you think that your views on the prison system, or what it’s like to be incarcerated, have changed?


"I'm astonished by the number of prisons we have in this country."


Do you have any book recommendations for us? Is there anything you especially like to read in your spare time?


"I've been reading 'Mercator." It's about the man who invented the Mercator projection map. He did it all without ever getting on a boat."


Some of the Wednesday morning regulars have been Featured Volunteers in the past. Read their Q & A's:



Volunteer of the Month for December 2015, Peter, https://www.bookstoprisoners.net/post/volunteer-of-the-month-peter



Emeritus - Bridget, Carol, Terry, Volunteer shift of the Month for December 2020,

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