Books to Prisoners receives request letters from people who are incarcerated across the country asking for literature and educational materials that help them pass the time and educate themselves. Books To Prisoners holds a volunteer project every Tuesday night from 5-7pm to answer letters from prisoners who request books. Volunteers will read requests, pull up to 3 appropriate books from the shelves, and then pack them for mailing.

Books To Prisoners:

Up to five volunteers each week through Hands On Portland. Every Tuesday from 5-7pm. Masks are required. There will be a max of 10-12 people between Hands On volunteers and our core committee.

The space is ADA accessible and there are all gender restrooms on site. We have multiple hand sanitizer bottles in the room for people to use, and the option to set up a station outside if preferred.

Location is Alder Commons at 4212 NE Prescott St, Portland, OR 97218. Someone will be at the front door until 5:05 to let volunteers in. After that volunteers will need to ring the doorbell.

ALL VOLUNTEERS MUST SIGN UP BEFORE SHOWING.

Because we get so many book donations, books will be available for purchase every Tuesday night during the volunteer shift, and we will also always generate a pile of free books for people to take. Prisoners often send us stamps as well, but because we use stamps.com, we don't use physical stamps. We have a stash of stamps if you would like to buy some from us on a Tuesday night which will go toward postage costs.

*Due to a shortage in funds, we are unable to send out as many book packages as we can create with the help of volunteers (books are heavy!). Feel free to bring a few dollars to donate if you can; every cent adds up to enable us to send out more packages more quickly!

To sign up for this project, please click "join" in the top left corner and then follow the link below to complete your registration.