[Bookstoprisoners] Update from Sandra

[Barbara kessel]

    I am in agreement with stopping the letter writing. A checklist
would be good and then if you had a sentence to add of explanation
about why you are sending what you are sending, that would be easy. I
have written many a letter in my time and the prisoners always write
back to me personally and want more and more communication or services
and I feel as if I have just volunteered to hold hands with a drowning
person as the only thing that would truly meet their need is to write
to them and get a lawyer and get them out on an appeal.
     Meanwhile, we are getting more and more letters from Illinois
prisoners and I am concerned that we have fallen behind for quite a
while with no sign of catching up. I think of the prisoners who wrote
with a request two months ago and think that either we have gone out
of business or that the guards are messing with their mail, or that
they said something wrong in their request or, or, or...It is also
painful to me that sometimes we cannot send them anything in the realm
of what they requested.
     However, I have learned gradually that while we have sharp limits
in terms of the ocean of needs in the prison population, we are a
weekly miracle of good folks doing one good thing for prisoners, and
the more efficiently we can accomplish our mission, the more prisoners
are served with books. Some books will hit their mark and some will
not, some prisoners will be disappointed and some ecstatic. Maybe some
books that have gone out have been life-changing. We have no control
over that. What we can control is getting books out as soon as
possible to all the Illinois prisoners who have asked us. I appreciate
being part of such an awesome project.
Thanks to everyone who works in BTP. Barbara Kessel

On 7/23/06, Niloofar Shambayati <Nilu at insightbb.com> wrote:
>
>
> I think we definitely need to continue writing letters back to prisoners,
> even if it's a short one.  Just look at most of the letters we get
> requesting books---they're much more than a list of requested books.  For
> many of the prisoners these communications, although formal, are the only
> contacts they have with the outside world.  True, they can seek pen pals but
> how many have the emotional energy & time to engage in such communications?
> I say we're not about efficiency & numbers but compassion; so, we should
> encourage everyone to accompany the books with a short but personal note.
>
>
> Niloofar
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Sandra Ahten
> To: BTP
> Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 12:56 PM
> Subject: [Bookstoprisoners] Update from Sandra
>
>
> Topic covered below:
>
> THANKS JAMIE!
> THANKS PAT!
> EFFICIENCY: LETTER WRITING, ZINE & OUT OF STATE REQUESTS
> SELLING ON AMAZON
> MEETINGS
>
>
> Things are looking really great in the BtP workroom. Jamie has found her
> niche culling the shelves. Wow! They are really organized. I was exclaiming
> over the relatively empty "business" section saying, "there's hardly
> anything there." She replied, "There was hardly anything there before, you
> just couldn't tell."  She was right.
>
> She had spent several weeks pulling for letters and sorting books and has a
> good feel for the requests...and now is putting that to work.
>
> We really appreciate her.
>
> THANKS PAT!
>
> Another person that has found her niche is Pat. Pat has one job with us --
> that is: taking the packages to the post office. What a load off my mind
> (and back) (and calendar) that I am not responsible for that any longer. Pat
> is ultra dependable. We put the ready-to-mail packages in the ante room.
> They disappear. Once a month Pat turns in her expenses for reimbursement.
> Magic.
>
> EFFICIENCY:
> LETTER WRITING, ZINE & OUT OF STATE REQUESTS
>
> Regarding letters: We have hundreds of letters waiting to be processed. And
> it looks a little overwhelming. But, in fact we are processing requests from
> June 12. We are only 5 weeks out. Not bad at all.
>
> In order to keep up with our flow. We have streamlined some processes and
> need to think about how we can best utilize all of our volunteer efforts.
>
> Some efficiency questions:
>
> We are no longer processing any out-of-state prisoner requests. There is a
> back up of letters. Do you think that we should have a pre-printed postcard
> to send to each out of state request that we get in? That would cost a
> little and take a little time to address...but it would be respectful. Or
> should we just continue to ignore them -- knowing that they will get the
> message if we don't respond?
>
> Zine:
> Do you think that we should encourage prisoners to send us their writing? Is
> the service we are able to provide to them through printing a small amount
> of their writing valuable enough to continue the effort? Does it give them
> false hopes about the possibility of publishing? I didn't include the call
> for writing in the latest version of the half sheet... but it could be put
> back in. We need to decide.
>
> Letter writing:
> Sending a personal letter with the outgoing orders has been fundamental part
> of what we do. Some folks find this very rewarding. Some find it daunting.
> Some would just rather not do it. On the downside -- it slows the processing
> of orders way down -- we could get more books in more hands if we didn't
> offer this service. There are specific pen pal prisoner services.
>
> It also muddies up the flow of processing orders when letters start arriving
> to a specific volunteer. Letter processors have to know if that volunteer is
> coming back and when. They have to make a decision to read a letter that may
> be personal, in order to determine that. We have to figure out what letters
> are addressed to a certain person -- just because the prisoner has that
> persons name... not because that person necessarily needs to be the one
> processing the next order.
>
> If we would decide to move away from personal letters...we could possibly
> have a check off form designed to go with our "half sheet" that provides a
> place to say if we were able to fill the requests, or if we added the "books
> not found" to our request list, or if he/she should ask again because we
> currently don't have it in but could get it later, or if we probably would
> never have the books requested (law books, etc).
>
> In the recent past we have addresses "letter writing" as an option -- but I
> think it is time we decide about parameters -- in order to know how to train
> new volunteers.
>
> Your opinion?
>
> SELLING ON AMAZON
>
> We are no longer operating the bookstore at all. Instead we are selling our
> better/ salable books that we feel would not be requested by a prisoner on
> Amazon. We have contracted with Deb Sanders to be our bookseller on a 50/50
> arrangement. In the 3-4 weeks that we have been operating we have sold 108
> books for a total gross revenue of $847. BtP will get 50% of that. We paying
> 10% of our net to the IMC.  Amazon reimburses for shipping.
>
> We have to ship the orders 2 times a week. (Monday and Thursday). Deb is
> doing it one of these times. We need a volunteer to do it the other day. Do
> you have one hour on Monday or Thursday on a regular basis, that you would
> be willing to commit? Even every other Monday or Thursday would be good. If
> so, please let me know.
>
> MEETINGS:
>
> I attended that steering committee of the IMC last Thursday. I'll send the
> minutes to that meeting to our list (when I get them typed up).
>
> When is our next BtP meeting? Could we have it next week? Please RSVP to me,
> if you could make it next Saturday at 2pm.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sandra
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  ________________________________
>
>
>
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