The Northeast Storybook Project

The Storybook Project is a service of the Northeast District of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester that provides services to incarcerated inmates in the Ontario County Jail.

Originally designed to help the female population, officials at the jail asked us to expand and so we now serve male inmates as well. The parents select a book for each child and then read that book into a digital recorder.   From this, CDs are "burned", then inserted into the books, which are then mailed individually to the children. This program not only helps to ease the pain of having a parent incarcerated and away from the family, but it also helps the parents better connect with their children while they are away.

Contact:   info@prisonministry-edr.org 

Letter from a Teacher

It has been a long month for one of my 2nd Graders. I teach at West Street School and I have one little girl whose Mom was arrested about 3 weeks ago and placed in the Ontario County jail.. My student was very sad about being with her grandma and not her Mom. She missed her Mom everyday and had her hopes dashed more than once in hoping she would come home and did not.

Last week, this little girl's face was so animated when she came to school, I knew she must have some news about her Mom. She came in with a book (Junie B. Jones) and a tape she had received from her Mom. 

The excitement was only enhanced by her telling everyone it was her Mom's voice - her Mom- reading the story. She asked everyone to listen to it. I sat with her as she listened in our listening center in our classroom, again and again, to her Mom reading the book. It touched every heart of every adult who came into the classroom. Thank you so much, all of you, for giving this sweet little girl, something of her Mother to hold on to as she waits her return home again. Keep taping the books and keeping this program going. It is touching lives! 

Thank you again, 

Mary Anne H.

Teacher