[Bookstoprisoners] Fwd: a support request letter from volunteers to send to selected persons

[Barbara kessel]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Barbara kessel <barkes at gmail.com>
Date: Aug 9, 2007 4:08 PM

Dear Volunteer for Books to Prisoners,
       This letter from the Planning committee for the national
conference of prison book projects is being sent out to chain from
people  - You - to people you know whom you think would respond to
either of our requests. We would like you to personalize this by
inserting your name into the letter at the top where it says, "Dear
Friends of__________who volunteers at Books to Prisoners" or erase
that and put in your own opening phrase or paragraph. Suit yourself,
but personalize it.

People may write back to you and we hope that you will eventually
check on them, so that the chain holds even though the the letter is
written so that they can independently volunteer their living space or
some money.
***********************************************************************************************************

Dear Friend of  (your name)__, a Books to Prisoners Volunteer,

       We of Books to Prisoners are writing to you as one of the
 people who are blessings to the work we do in this resource-rich
 community. We think you might be able to aid us in putting on a
 national conference of prison book projects, November 2-4, 2007.
 Books to Prisoners has felt called to do this for two reasons:

        1) This would be the second conference of prison book
 projects, the first one being in Philadelphia in 2003 before we
 existed. The bulk of prison book projects are on the two coasts, so
 this central location might enable more to assemble. We can all be
invigorated by having an improved network of communication, starting
with face to face.

        2) We have grown astonishingly in our three + years of
 existence, thanks to people like you and our community of enthusiastic
 volunteers. Thus, we feel responsible to help others who are
 beginning, and we know that all projects have much to learn from one
 another.

        We have two concrete ways you might be able to help
 us have this conference. First, we need 30 to 40 places for people to
 stay for Friday and Saturday nights (Nov. 2-3). These places could be
 anywhere in both towns, as long as there is a bus route that your
 guest could take in the mornings to the IMC, or if a volunteer (perhaps
 the person sending you this letter) could bring them to the IMC in
 Urbana in the  mornings.
      If you are able to offer housing, please fill out the survey
linked below and our housing co-ordinator will do our best to match
you with a compatible conference guest.
http://www.books2prisoners.org/conference/hosting.html

      Nearly all the people who do prison book work in this country
are volunteers and some are not able to easily afford transportation
to the conference. We are hoping to raise money to offer a few small
scholarships to help defray travel costs. If you are able to donate
money, please visit www.books2prisoners.org/conference/donate.html
where you can donate directly.

     If you have questions about either of these requests, please
contact Barbara Kessel of B2P at barkes at gmail.com or 365-9473.

     We want to thank all who contribute books, time, labor, money or
have spread the word -  on behalf of the prisoners in the state of
Illinois who have received more than 14,000 books from B2P, and also
for the prisoners at our two county jails. Both these groups thank us
all the time, never knowing how many people make up the village that
is extending its concern. This letter is being sent from person to
person, not to lists of unknowns, so if you have received it, someone
thinks you care.

                       On behalf of the Planning Committee for
      the National Conference of Prison Book Projects, Thank You,

                                        April Diaz
                                        Barbara Kessel
                                        Noah Lenstra
                                        Suzanne Linder
                                        Yvette Scheven
                                        Jay Schubert

 www.Books2Prisoners.org

 www.Books2Prisoners.org/conference