Pick up and organize books for children of incarcerated parents

Aunt Mary's Storybook, a cherished initiative of Companions Journeying Together, extends a heartwarming connection between incarcerated individuals in several Chicagoland county jails and Illinois state prisons and their beloved children, stepchildren, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and more.

What We Do: We provide books and audio recorders to those in custody, assisting them in selecting age-appropriate books for the children who mean the most to them. Each participant is given an opportunity to create a unique audio recording, reading the book and adding a personal message. On behalf of the person in custody, we then lovingly package and send the book and recording to the child.

We Need Your Help: We're searching for a dedicated volunteer located in the Chicagoland area to assist us in choosing donated books from a warehouse in Pilsen on a monthly basis and entering them into our web-based application inventory system. The inventoried books are then dropped off in the La Grange area. Besides choosing the books and dropping off the books, this volunteer activity is done from your home.

Your Role:

• Selecting/choosing books from a warehouse in Pilsen
• Entering ISBN from each donated book into our inventory system
• Entering data from publicly accessible databases into the inventory system
• Preparing inventory labels and affixing them to each donated book
• Dropping off the entered books to the La Grange area
• Meeting with us occasionally for supplies

Requirements:

• Access to a reliable form of transportation to transport boxes of books
• Access to personal computer, internet, and printer
• Ability to lift several boxes of books weighing roughly 25 lb each
• An eye for detail
• Highly organized
• A passion for making a difference in the lives of families separated by incarceration

Get Involved: If you're interested in being a part of this meaningful project and you meet the above requirements, we'd love to hear from you. Please contact us, and we'll direct you to complete our online volunteer application.

(We are unable to assist with obtaining or maintaining a United States visa, including an F-1/OPT visa. We are also unable to offer community service hours verification for court, school, or scholarship purposes.)

Watch our video to learn more: Aunt Mary's Storybook Project on Good Morning America