Power of Books: Liberation Library

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Liberation Library, Logo, 2019

Liberation Library is a non-profit organization that takes book donations and sends them out to incarcerated youth. They do this because providing books to youth in prison helps encourage imagination, self-determination and connection to the outside world. Liberation Library also believes that books help empower the youth to change the criminal justice system.

I went to Liberation Library because I wanted to find a way to further obtain service hours, and Liberation Library was an enjoyable and interesting option. Liberation Library relies on volunteers to pack and organize book requests from multiple juvenile detention centers across the state.

Volunteers fulfill order forms that the youth fill out regarding their favorite books and authors. If they cannot find a book by one of the authors listed, they find a similar book. The volunteer also writes the kid's name on the inside cover and top of the book, and write out a little note and make a bookmark for each individual kid.
On top of volunteering my time during packing days, I asked my school to participate in the holiday card drive that Liberation Library does annually. I informed my school about Liberation Library's cause, provided supplies to make cards, and delivered the cards to the Library. From there, the personalized cards my school created are distributed to incarcerated youth that can't spend time with their families at that time of the year.

I enjoy going to the Library because of my own love of books, and I can relate to wanting a good book to read when things might not be going the best for me. The first day that I walked in, I didn't know what to expect. Now, I find that I'm an advocate for incarcerated youth and changing the juvenile justice system. If you would like to learn more about Liberation Library or volunteer or donate books, please visit https://www.liberationlib.com/about.html for more information.

Due to the pandemic, I was unable to go to Liberation Library the way I usually do, so I had to find other options to get service hours through. Luckily for me, Liberation Library has also done a project where they send letters written by volunteers to incarcerated youth. I participated in that this summer, writing several letters for people to receive through Liberation Library's program. 

Some of the many letters I wrote.

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