Great Falls Books Through Bars 2019
Great Falls Books Through Bars is now over 2 years old!
Every month we send free books to people who are incarcerated in prisons around the country, maintaining lines of solidarity and connection, and redistributing resources to support the organizing of people on the inside.
We are part of an incredible community. All of the books we send are generously donated. All of the labor is done by dedicated and thoughtful volunteers. And we are proud to operate out of La Mariposa Collective - a social center in downtown Great Falls (Turners Falls) that provides a space where people of color can celebrate, heal, resist, and build towards our collective liberation.
- And we need your help to keep this project running! -
The cost of postage and printing zines are our biggest expenses, and even small amounts help a lot! We can send a package of books for $3.50. We can send a box of packages for around $40.00. And for $300 you can cover the cost of shipping for an entire month.
Please share this link and if you're able to join us we have volunteer days on the 2nd Saturday of every month at La Mariposa 115 Avenue A, Turners Falls MA 01376
Follow us for more updates here: https://www.facebook.com/GreatFallsBooksThroughBars/
And checkout out our real deal website here: https://www.greatfallsbooksthroughbars.org/
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And for all of the REAL JUICY DETAILS here's a recap of what we've been up to in the past year(s):
Dear friends, comrades, and co-conspirators,
2018 was a year of huge growth for Great Falls Books Through Bars. We responded to approximately 441 LETTERS and sent over 1500 BOOKS! Read on to see what we did last year, and consider sending us a few bucks if you like it.
Although we don’t keep track of attendance, our monthly Volunteer Days seem to be growing in popularity. We expanded our volunteer base by coordinating special visits with youth groups like the Young Feminist Collaborative, Lighthouse Holyoke, a student contingent from Bard College at Simon’s Rock, and by tabling at community events. We've also gained a number of active and enthusiastic collective members in recent months.
In the wake of 2017’s devastating hurricane season, we showed a film and hosted guest speakers discussing grassroots solidarity-based approaches to disaster relief, and raised funds for people with the Submedia Collective to send water filters to Puerto Rico.
In addition to our primary mission, GFBTB collective members worked with people from the Pioneer Valley Workers Center and the Western MA Prison Abolition Network to coordinate phone zaps in Northampton and Springfield in September to support the national prison strike.
We hosted three educational movie screenings with letter writing or
discussion related to resistance and the prison state. The October event featured two awesome guest speakers who shared information about the 2006 popular uprising in Oaxaca, Mexico. We're excited to help grow a movement where we keep each other inspired by sharing movement history.
We've been doing our best to support some particular prisoners caught up for brave and selfless acts. In 2019, we hosted letter-writing times for Ramsey Orta (filmed the police killing of Eric Garner), Josh Williams
(imprisoned in connection with the uprising around Ferguson, MO), Red Fawn Fallis (Standing Rock), Dion Ortiz (Standing Rock), Little Feather (Standing Rock), and Rattler (Standing Rock). We've been able to raise and send a little money to some of these folks, too.
We also continue to distribute zines to prisoners and in our community
with a focus on history, politics, current events, surviving
incarceration, and how-to manuals.
If all this sounds good to you, and you want to see more from our
collective (we have lots of plans in the works!) would you consider
donating some money?
We're seeing an increase in costs – an average package of three books
costs around $3.50 to mail, but we’re getting about 80-100 letters a
month now, whereas a year ago, we’d get more like 30. This is the kind
of thing where even a small donation really matters! Keep in mind also,
that once a book ends up inside a prison, it often continues to be
passed from hand to hand.
We’re able to continue based on the generosity of La Mariposa for
letting us use the space, and the community support that keeps us going through book donations, donated web-design, help with printing and bulk dictionary procurement, but we haven’t figured out how to barter with the post office.
With such a jam-packed 2018 behind us, 2019 can only be more [packed with jam]. More books sent by more volunteers to more people in more prisons, all in the hopes that prisoners’ lives can be a little bit better…
More tape!
Better books!
Big dreams!
Until every prison is gone!
Hope to see you soon,
Great Falls Books Through Bars
