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By LISSA West Co-Vice President Graham Christian, November 6, 2009 3:16 pm

Join Promising Pals and be a pen pal to a 6th, 7th, or 8th grade student!

The Promising Pals program highlights literacy and mentoring by giving students at the Timilty School in Roxbury an opportunity to correspond with students and professionals from Simmons and the surrounding community. Last year, more than 200 participants from Simmons joined over 500 professionals from greater Boston to be a part of this program. Participation is easy!

All you have to do is:

1. Be a pen pal with a 6th, 7th, or 8th grade student.
2. Exchange at least 4 letters between December 2009 and May 2010.
3. Read the assigned book and discuss it in the letters with your pal.
4. Meet your pal at the Pal Breakfast hosted by the Timilty School on June 4, 2010 from 7:30am – 10:30am.
   Attendance at this event is required, as the students are very disappointed not to have their pal attend the breakfast.

This opportunity is open to Simmons Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Students. Please visit the link below to register as a Promising Pal.
Registration deadline is November 13, 2009.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=BSIOU7geiwnb64faMh1erQ_3d_3d

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By LISSA West Co-President Alex Lent, September 13, 2009 8:42 pm

The Prison Book Project is a volunteer-run organization in Hadley dedicated to providing free reading materials to prisoners in New England and Texas. The group has recently moved to a new work space in the North Hadley Congregational Church and is reopening this Sunday after almost a year of planning. Join them on Sundays from 1-4 to help answer letters and fulfill book requests. The scheduled packing sessions this fall are:

9/20 1-4
10/11 1-4
10/18 1-4
11/8 1-4
11/15 1-4
12/13 1-4

All meetings at the North Hadley Congregational Church, 243 River Drive (Route 47 between Route 9 and Sunderland near the Sugar Shack) in Hadley, Massachusetts.

Donations
The Prison Book Project is also always looking for donations of paperback books in the following subjects:

Dictionaries (English and Spanish/English) and Thesauri (Dictionaries are the top request from prisoners)
GED study guides
African and African-American, Asian and Asian-American, Latino/a and Latin/a-American, and Native-American fiction, history, and studies
How to start a business
How to and repair manuals (automotive, carpentry, electric, HVAC)
How to draw and paint
Fantasy, science fiction, and westerns
Spirituality and religion, particularly Buddhism, Paganism, and Wicca
Drug and alcohol addiction recovery
Yoga and meditation
Gay, bisexual, and transgender fiction, history, and studies

Prison regulations forbid hardcover books. The Prison Book Project is also happy to accept donations of cash, packing materials and gift certificates to local bookstores.

For more information, contact:

Prison Book Project
prisonbookproject@riseup.net
413-584-8975 ext. 208 (voicemail only)
www.prisonbooks.org