Organize books for children of incarcerated parents (Evanston) at Companions Journeying Together

Companions Journeying Together provides programs of compassion for incarcerated people & their families in Illinois. We are perhaps most well known for our Aunt Mary's Storybook program which connects people in custody with the children most important to them through reading and literacy. We also coordinate pen-pal groups and facilitate Christmas Cards, Mother's Day Cards, and Birthday Cards for justice-involved people.

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Aunt Mary's Storybook, a cherished initiative of Companions Journeying Together, extends a heartwarming connection between incarcerated individuals in several Chicagoland county jails and Illinois state prisons and their beloved children, stepchildren, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and more.

What We Do We provide books and audio recorders to those in custody, assisting them in selecting age-appropriate books for the children who mean the most to them. Each participant is given an opportunity to create a unique audio recording, reading the book and adding a personal message. On behalf of the person in custody, we then lovingly package and send the book and recording to the child.

We Need Your Help We're searching for a dedicated volunteer located in or near the Evanston area to assist us in entering our inventory of books into our web-based application inventory system. Besides picking up the books, this volunteer activity is done from your home.

Your Role

• Picking up our inventory books from our volunteer in Evanston
• Entering ISBN from each book into our web based inventory system
• Entering/editing data from publicly accessible databases into the inventory system
• Preparing inventory labels and affixing them to each donated book
• Dropping off the entered books back to our volunteer in Evanston
• Meeting with us occasionally for supplies
  
  

Requirements

• Access to a reliable form of transportation to transport boxes of books
• Access to personal computer, internet, and printer
• Ability to lift a few boxes of books weighing roughly 25 lb each
• An eye for detail
• Highly organized
• A passion for making a difference in the lives of families separated by incarceration
  
  

Get Involved If you're interested in being a part of this meaningful project and you meet the above requirements, we'd love to hear from you. Please contact us, and we'll direct you to complete our online volunteer application.

(We are unable to assist with obtaining or maintaining a United States visa, including an F-1/OPT visa. We are also unable to offer community service hours verification for court, school, or scholarship purposes.)

Watch our video to learn more (back when we were using cassette tapes!) Aunt Mary's Storybook Project on Good Morning America