Storybook Project
What is the Storybook Project?
Storybook Project is an LSSI-facilitated program at 14 prisons and jails throughout the state that allows incarcerated parents to record themselves reading a book to their children. With the help of dedicated, well-trained volunteers and donated children’s books, parents select a book at the appropriate reading level of their child. Then a volunteer sits with parents to record a story, which is then burned onto a CD. The CD and book are mailed to the child or children at no cost to the family.
In 2019-2020, 3,703 children received books from their parents through 67 events held by volunteers at correctional centers throughout the state. The program was suspended during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and is just starting again in person.
To find out if a correctional facility participates or for information about volunteering, please email Kevin Copeland at Kevin.Copeland@lssi.org.
T.J. Easley retired in 2018 after spending his entire career as a corrections officer. These days, T.J. still goes back into prisons and jails, but now he is a volunteer with Storybook Project. He says the two go hand in hand. He has seen the transformation of the men who are incarcerated as they participate.
“They sit down and read a book to their child and break down in tears,” said Easley. “When you see that and you see God’s work there, if you don’t walk away with a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye, you’re not human.”
The Storybook Project is easy to understand on the surface, but underneath this seemingly simple program runs a profound undercurrent of love and connection.
“It’s helping these parents reach back out to their children and show them ‘Hey, I know I messed up but I’m still your Dad and I still love you.”