Women’s Business Social Meets at Ojai Valley Inn: bring books!

On Thursday, December 16 from 5:30-7pm the Women’s Business Social meets at the Ojai Valley Inn.

Join in the spirit of the season by bringing books to give to young people who are incarcerated at the local California Youth Authority facility. Patti Michaels suggested this idea to No More Nylons founder and host of the Socials Jodi Womack and the idea took off from there. Here’s an article from examiner.com about donating books which quotes yours truly.

“Ventura Youth Correctional Facility (VYCF) oversees 360 Youth here in Ventura County who have been incarcerated for major crimes,” posted Patti on the No More Nylons facebook page. “The ages of the Youth are as young as 12 years old and on up to 24 years. If you have books within your library that have touched you and have changed your life in a profound way, please consider donating them to this cause by bringing your books to the next Women’s Business Social Event Thursday night at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa.”

I taught writing and literature course for Ventura College to incarcerated young men out at CYA and saw for myself how hungry they were for reading materials that engaged their minds and inspired their souls.

This can be a great way to turn the young people there onto literature–to feed their minds and their imaginations. Many of them are quite bright; they just lack educational opportunities and cultural capital.

For the literature class, I had the guys select from several novel choices to form “book club” discussion groups for class. I asked friends and family to donate the books so the students could write in them and keep them.

They were really fascinated by all the “hidden” meanings in the literature we studied. It got them thinking about symbolism in art and all around us. I also brought in a huge pile of Rolling Stone magazines–that really made them happy!

So please think back to when you were in high school and your early years of college and please bring books to the Social to donate!

Tags: how to help incarcerated youth, Women's Business Socials