Book Notes January, 2012 Issue Number 19

Our mission - to connect children with their incarcerated mothers through literature

A Note from your Director

This issue of Book Notes is dedicated to our dear friend and avid Women’s Storybook Project supporter, Warden Wilhelmenia Howard, who passed away last month. Warden Howard learned about WSP while she was the warden at Lane Murray. She was then transferred to the Plane/Henley Unit in Dayton, Texas, which is the largest female facility in the state with a population of 2,900 offenders. Warden Howard contacted me and asked if we could start the program in Dayton. After her recovery from cancer, we had many plan- ning sessions. With the help of JoAn Martin, who gathered volunteers, and Ellie Chaikind, who readily agreed to be the Team Leader, WSP began at the Plane facility in 2009. Following Warden Howard’s request to provide the program at Henley, I met with her last summer to discuss the plans and to meet with the staff. With the help of Warden Flippo, WSP will begin at Henley in January. I miss Warden Howard, but I’m comforted to know that she will be with us forever on the Storybook Documentary on our website. Judith

Books! Books! and More Books! Against All Odds The fall season is traditionally a time when During December, both the Mt. View and the WSP receives hefty donations of children's books Hilltop units were on lockdown. This makes from businesses and the public, and 2011 was no Storybook visits impossible… but thanks to the exception. But it's not just the donations that dedication of several volunteers and prison per- are remarkable; there are some touching stories sonnel, against all odds, the visits happened. to go with them. Pat Yeargain didn't want the children to miss At Barnes and Noble Arboretum and La Can- the December books and tapes, so she made tara, we only had one month of donations this plans with the prison to reschedule. Although year, but still received 2,782 books during the her Co-Team Leader, Betsy, was unable to go on Holiday Drive. Dugie Graham, one of the many the rescheduled day, Pat Yeargain persevered. volunteers that encouraged shoppers to donate, Some of the volunteers who had signed up to go, tells this story: "I approached a shopper with our could reschedule. Additional volunteers, how- WSP handout, and she expressed interest in ever, were needed and Pat put out the call. There hearing about Storybook Project, so I explained was a new volunteer and she jumped right in! (continued on page 3—Books Books Books) (continued on page 5—Against All Odds)

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WHO’S WHO Women’s Storybook Project Making Connections of Texas A grandmother/mother Director and Publisher…...……...... Judith Dullnig [email protected] expresses gratitude Volunteer Chair ……..……………..……………………..Judy Fox [email protected] Dear Ms. Dullnig, Volunteer Chair, Plane/Henley…Wynona Montgomery My daughter, who is incarcerated in the Gatesville facility, and [email protected] Transportation and Arrangements Chair grandchildren, who live with me, have been blessed by your Story- …………………………..…………………………....Felicia Kutchey book Project. We would all like to express our gratitude for your [email protected] Supplies Chair ……….…..…………………..…….Lydia Hewett unique and meaningful program. [email protected] I know that when the children come home to one of the Story- Supplies Chair, Plane/Henley………………..Brenda Dykes book's envelopes with books and tapes they are thrilled and listen to [email protected] Communications Chair ……..….……………Paula Jameson their mother's voice over and over. It brings them a great deal of [email protected] comfort and provides a great and kind service to their mother know- Communications Chair ……..….…………………Gloria Kelly ing that she is able to still be a part of their lives in a wholesome, [email protected] e-Communications and Scheduling Chair private activity and to provide some unexpected joy for her children. ………………….………………………..………….…Dugie Graham The bonding of nighttime stories and the comfort of hearing the [email protected] Newsletter Chair ……………………………………..Pat Roberts voices of loved ones that have been removed from their lives is a [email protected] priceless gift for the little ones left at home. The intimacy of reading Electronic Newsletter Chair…………………….Mona Carver together can be had whenever the child needs to feel closeness with [email protected] the parent who is not there and provides much needed intimacy that Newsletter Production Chair …...... Angela Nunley [email protected] helps maintain the parent/child bond. Lane Murray So many mothers and fathers that have succumbed to the despot Team Leader ………………..………..……Nancy Wallace [email protected] drug culture rampaging our country have left countless children in Team Leader ……….....….………………Susanna Busico the care of extended family members or the child protective system. [email protected] Children love their parents regardless of their failings and through Woodman Team Leader ……………………………………Judy Darnell whatever the circumstances, and your program helps bridge the gap [email protected] between parent and child when that family unit has been jeopard- Team Leader ………………..……………….…Kelley Finkel ized. [email protected] Hilltop Again, thank you for this wonderful program. Team Leader ……………………….…………….Pat Roberts [email protected] Team Leader …………………...………………..Lynne Riley WANTED: [email protected] Mountain View Contact Judith Dullnig Team Leader ……………….…..………….Betsy McCraine [email protected]  Desktop Publisher Storybook Team Leader …………..……....………………Pat Yeargain needs a volunteer man or woman [email protected] who will share their MS Publisher Plane/Henley Team Leader ………….….………………..…Ellie Chaikind skills to “package” our quarterly award quality [email protected] Book Notes. Candidate should be experienced Team Leader …………….……………..JoAnn Innerarity in composition and in producing a regular publica- [email protected] Team Leader ……..….…………….….Rhonda Chandler tion from a template and provided articles. Com- [email protected] pensation: nada, but lots of praise and plaudits

Want to make a tax free contribution?  News Gatherer: A person willing to gather news Go to: www.storybookproject.org and information for the quarterly Book Notes. and click on the DONATE link  Volunteers willing to share their experiences by writing short articles for Book Notes. Women’s Storybook Project of Texas c/o Austin Community Foundation We want to make this publication YOURS and re- 4315 Guadalupe Suite 300 Austin, TX 78751 flect your stories and experiences. a 501(c)3 non-profit organization

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(Books Books Books - continued from page 1) Storybook Project increased funding for both organi- to her what we do during our visits with the moms zations. A rocking chair draped with a child’s blanket and for their children. She was impressed by our was used as a focal point for collecting donated books project and recognized the incredible value it holds in the church narthex and in the preschool hallway. A for the children colorful box was used at the Grace Chapel location to and their entire collect donated storybooks from members who attend families because the Chapel regularly. Wanda reports that with a team she is a nurse for of volunteers to assist with advertising, staging and one of the prisons collecting books, the book drive was a very rewarding i n H u n t s - experience. ville. She said And the giving doesn't stop there! Book People she just might included Story- become a volun- book Project on teer with us after the Giving Tree she retires and during December moves to the and shoppers do- area. Her daugh- Lisa and daughter, Lily Hobbs nated 80 board ter and son-in- volunteer at Barnes and Noble. books for children law just had their under 5. Ann first baby and she came to Austin to meet her new Marie Olson, Anne Marie Olson, DDS, presents granddaughter. We both talked about our families DDS, and her Judith with books donated for WSP. and grandchildren and loving them through all team and her pa- things and how powerful it must be for a child whose tients donated 130 books. They plan to do this again mom is incarcerated to receive a book with his/her next year. mom's handwritten note in the cover AND a tape re- What generosity from businesses and communi- cording of his/her mom's voice reading that ties for this worthy organization! book. What wonderful treasures we are giving to these children! Before she left the store, she reached out and hugged me goodbye. I think we'll see her What’s Happening? again, don't you?" Pat Roberts' grandchildren (ages 8 and 9), after helping greet shoppers at B&N, were offered money  Baytown and Houston vol- to purchase a book for themselves. They voluntarily unteers will begin to imple- spent the money on ment WSP at the Henley unit in Dayton in books to donate to WSP! January. Plane/Henley is the largest female fa- WSP Volunteer cility in Texas. Wanda Stimson organ-  Wanda Stimson and volunteers will provide ized a book drive at information regarding WSP at the February Sun Grace Episcopal Church, City Non-Profit Fair in Georgetown. in Georgetown, to raise awareness of the  The Book People Bookstore will highlight Women’s Storybook Women's Storybook Project again in the Spring. Christopher, grandson of Pat Project among parish- Roberts, donates a book to  The current Book Notes team met on Jan. 4 to WSP and rings the bell! His ioners. The book drive discuss future plans for the newsletter. Check out sister, Katelin, did as well. became a joint outreach the "WANTED" section for ways YOU can help. effort for co-sponsors Episcopal Church Women and Grace Preschool whose volunteers made the book drive a success with 196 storybooks donated during the month of October 2011. The retail value of the books totaled $1,359.10. The book drive was scheduled to include the annual two-week Scholastic Book Fair that raises funds for Grace Preschool. The easy access to purchase storybooks at the Book Fair and then donate them to the Wanda and Ron Stimson, Pat Roberts, Angela Nunley, and Judith Dullnig discuss the future of Book Notes.

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Her family loves to travel and has been to Volunteer Spotlight every continent, except for Antarctica. She also Kelly Finkel enjoys baking, but says she needs to have a rea- Co-leader son to bake these days. Woodman Jail Kelly’s involvement with WSP began about 4 Kelly Finkel is an Austin resident where she years ago when Jeri Saper introduced her to it. resides with her husband, David. They have two She goes to the prisons 2-4 times a year and cur- sons, Ben (22) and Aaron (19). They arrived in rently co-leads Woodman with Judy Darnell. Austin 22 years ago when David Mostly, Kelly does the technologi- was offered a job at Dell, and they cal parts of that job: making mail- happily left the crazy LA life for ing labels, communicating with the the opportunity of raising their prison officials, etc. sons in a more opportunistic en- vironment. She states: “Participating in WSP is incredibly rewarding. I An educator at heart, Kelly has know I make a huge difference in a BA in general studies, her Ele- the lives of the mothers and grand- mentary Education teaching cre- mothers in prison, but even more dentials, and MA in Elementary so for their children. They hear Education-specializing in Read- their mother's voice reading to ing Improvement- and an MA in Jewish Studies, them. This not only connects mother and child, specializing in Jewish Education. She is the it shows the child that their mother values read- school director at Temple Beth Shalom and also ing and education.” an active member of Congregation Agudas Achim. She is also a member of NCJW, the Na- Thank you, Kelly, for all you do to facilitate tional Council of Jewish Women. that connection between mother and child.

 Meghan at Book People for her support.

 Pat Yeargain and St. Matthew's Book Club for book donations.

 Pat Roberts and Good News United Methodist Church for book donations.

 To all who made our booth at the Texas  Nancy Snyder and her book group for Book Festival such a success. We received book donations and financial contributions. the largest amount of financial donations  St. Mark's Episcopal Church Outreach ever for WSP at this event! Committee for book donations.

 To the many people who volunteered at  Valerie Shaw for book donations and help- Barnes and Noble at Arboretum during ing with WSP Development. the Holiday Book Drive.  Wynona Montgomery for her organizing,  Charley, Caren and staff at the Barnes scheduling, and coordinating of volunteers at and Noble stores for supporting and pro- the Plane/Henley Unit. moting WSP.  Wanda Stimson for agreeing to join the  Nancy Wallace who greeted shoppers at Grant Application Committee. La Cantara in San Antonio.

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(Against All Odds—continued from page 1) his van, and miraculously, Wanda's shoulder had Betsy was able to get the books and tapes in the healed enough for her to drive. Then, Pat re- mail. The children would receive their packages ceived an email saying the Warden was out of after all! town and their supplies were not approved. Ju- dith, Warden Nancy Botkin, and Pat talked late However, when the Hilltop lockdown hap- that Friday night, and all that could be done was pened, the option to reschedule wasn't avail- to call the prison in the morning. That call yielded able. It was with heavy conflicting information: heart that Pat Roberts the volunteers were ap- canceled the Saturday proved, but not the sup- scheduled visit on Thurs- plies. day afternoon because the lockdown still had not Several calls later, War- been lifted. den Black was finally lo- cated and a half an hour But then, Friday morn- before arriving at the ing, much to her amaze- prison, the WSP visit was ment, a fax bearing the fully approved. Officer names and addresses of Fain met the team at the 62 children arrived in her gate and facilitated the en- home! After a quick call Sixteen volunteers at Gatesville on Dec. 17 serving try, making it one of the to the prison, she was in- three units: Mt. View, Lane Murray, and Hilltop. smoothest they've ever formed the lockdown was had. And 62 children going to be lifted that afternoon, and if Story- smiled during the holidays as they heard their book could reassemble the team and make ar- mother's voices reading a book to them. Against rangements, the visit was on! One short hour all odds. later, after many frantic phone calls, seven an- On that particular Saturday, WSP had 28 vol- gels (including a new volunteer) of Storybook unteers among three facilities in Gatesville and had agreed to go. the Plane Unit in Dayton recording mothers mak- Next problem: a van. The normal rental ing it possible for children to hear their mothers from Enterprise was no longer available. But over the holidays. What a gift! another angel, Ron Stimson, allowed the use of Wilhelmenia Howard: 1957 – 2011 Wilhelmenia received a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Mary Hardin Baylor and a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Central Texas. She was the recipient of the “Distinguished Outstanding Young Women of America Award” for her dedication to her career and her community. In 1997, she was presented the Mae Carvel Award by the Venture Club of the Americans South Central Region. She traveled throughout the state of Texas speaking on family violence. Warden Howard was presented the “Governor’s 2011 Criminal Justice Volunteer Service Award.” She began her employment with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice- Institutional Division in September 1985 at the Gatesville Unit as an Associate Clinical Psychologist III. In July 1993, she applied for a Senior Warden posi- tion. She was the Assistant Warden at the Gatesville Unit. In 1994, she was named Senior Warden and opened the Nathaniel J. Neal Unit in Amarillo, Texas. She was Senior Warden at Lane Murray for a short time before becom- ing Senior Warden of the Plane State Jail and Henley Unit in Dayton.

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78751 TX Austin,

300 Suite Guadalupe 4315

Foundation Community Austin

Thumbs up to Women’s Storybook Project of Texas… a simple idea with a BIG impact!

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