A few books for a few prisoners

I went with a small group of awesome people to help out a local nonprofit that sends books to prisoners. For two hours, I hung out in a smallish, dank room in the basement of a church in Dupont Circle, filling requests from prisoners for books. We read their letters, then looked for books that matched their requests, wrote them a short note, and packed them up to be shipped off. Many of the requests were for dictionaries, fantasy and other sundry kinds of fiction, but I did fill one request for erotica. (He said it would fill a need of his. :) But, alas, that is not the point. The point is that I really enjoyed spending my evening that way. It definitely had the feel of a small, underground (literally!) band of mismatched people getting together to make a tiny little difference in the world. One person opened a letter from someone who said he'd been in prison for 40 years. I can't imagine what it would be like to spend 40 years - an entire lifetime - in prison. I can't even stand being in my apartment for a full day! I hope to make an effort to go back and help out again. And, now I will look at books at yard sales in a whole different light!