ACC CKI now travels to Inside Books on a bi-weekly basis, and has been working with the organization since last year. After finding a passion in our own club, we thought it would be a great opportunity to bring in our Kiwanis Family counterparts to join the cause. Our sponsoring Kiwanis Club, Austin Young Professionals, now works closely with the organization as well; sending hundreds of books to needy inmates every month.
Promoting literacy, as many of you know, is also the aim for Circle K’s service partner, Better World Books (BWB). BWB is an online for-profit bookseller that donates a book to a nonprofit literacy program for every book that it sells. Their mission is to harness the power of capitalism to bring literacy and opportunity to people around the world. Austin Community College CKI may not be promoting literacy on a worldwide scale, but we are able to help those in our own backyards.
Gabriel Villafranca:
“Volunteering at inside book project has helped me realize how much of an impact a book can make in someone’s life, it’s a rewarding experience to be a part of the opportunity that not only helps educate an inmate but allows them to learn more about the world around them and see through different viewpoints and experiences so they can become a more rounded individual. This is my favorite service project because I not only help them by giving them reading material but I know I made a difference in a person’s life through a simple book From reading about fiction or learning about history to learning new life skills that they can use in real life and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”
Along in every package of books we send out, there is also a handwritten note from the person who chose and packaged the person-specific books. In this note, we thank them for reaching out and requesting reading materials, and inform them that they can write again in 3 months. Four times a year, the inmates can send in requests. That’s four times a year that this organization is able to further encourage literacy and educational growth to an individual. The work that volunteers in CKI and many other organizations are doing to help incarcerated persons have access to reading materials not only proves the passion that we all have to help our community but shows the fervor we have for the realization of all-of-mankind’s potential.