To the members of FOCUS,
Thanks for your generous grant monies recently donated to our Juvenile Court Book Club. In the past two years, you have given us approximately $4300 which acquired 430 copies of 18 different titles for the boys of Unit 800, San Diego Juvenile Hall.
I tell the students, “Your books are given to you by people who’ve never met you. These people feel you are worth their time and their money.” It’s hard to assess if this sinks in – they are teenage boys, after all.
But I hope it does. This is the challenge volunteers working with these kids face. We invest time and effort trying to give skills and viewpoints to this population, yet we’ll never know if we succeed.
However trying is worthwhile. Certainly, if no effort is made, changes won’t occur. Most of the boys openly share that they never read before being detained at juvenile hall. Now without phones, computers, internet, TVs or iPods, books are all they have. They are discovering reading is something you do for yourself, not for a school assignment.
And they are affected by the books. I remember a boy in one of the discussions emphatically stating how he “hated the book.” He then proceeded to analyze it with animated, well thought out ideas. Another book had a character that lost his parents at a young age. One of the students opened up about the death of his own parents. Another shared (after reading “Hamlet” no less!) the regret of actions taken or not taken that cannot be undone. How many students are affected by reading but don’t share? We’ll never know, but I feel there are many.
Mr. Rogers said, speaking of the tragedies occurring in the world and in our lives, “My mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” In this day and age, we can all benefit from doing this.
You at FOCUS are true helpers. Your generous donations help these boys to read, think, format ideas and express them aloud. Hopefully this gives them skills and insights to change their lives. Again, thank you for your generous donations to the Juvenile Court Book Club. They are vastly appreciated.
Tadd Mannino
Unit 800 Site Coordinator, Juvenile Court Book Club
