The Annual OWLS Coffee Creek Book Drive is Here!
Gather up your very gently used books for Coffee Creek, Oregon’s only women’s prison. The book drive enriches the collection of books available to the women incarcerated at Coffee Creek, as well as the libraries in Oregon’s other correctional facilities.
Please look on your bookshelves for books that meet the following criteria:
Format:
Hard cover and soft cover books and books on CD are acceptable but NO books on tape (because the cassettes can be used to hide contraband) or magazines.
Content:
Any form of fiction is acceptable and the most popular are mysteries, romance, and science fiction/fantasy. The women at Coffee Creek have a wide range of reading abilities and tastes in literature. If you read a book and liked it, chances are that someone at Coffee Creek will too. Books written for young adults are particularly needed, because the reading level of those books is a bit lower, but the content is mature enough to hold a woman’s interest.
Nonfiction is also acceptable, but a few more rules apply: NO true crime books, books on gambling, textbooks of any kind (including law books), or sets of encyclopedias. The library has also requested NO Reader’s Digest Condensed Books.
Children’s books are also welcome—many of the women have children who visit them, and reading together is a great bonding experience. But please, NO coloring or activity books that have already been played with or used.
Condition:
Books must be in good to excellent condition: NO books with torn covers, damaged spines, or writing or other marks in them. The basic rule: Is the book in good enough condition that you would not be embarrassed to give it as a gift to someone? Our donated books are a gift to the women at Coffee Creek. The condition of our gifts should send the message that we really care about them.
Do you want to volunteer? (Yes, you do!)
This important service project could not occur without the support of OWLS members, and we encourage you to sign up to do one or more of the following:
- Collect books at your home or office. Donors will bring their books to your home or office from July 17 through July 30, and books will be picked by transporters between July 31 and Aug. 4.
- Transport books from Portland collection sites to the sorting location (SW Portland). between July 31 and Aug. 4.
- Transport books from non-Portland collection sites to the sorting location (SW Portland) or to a non-Portland location between July 31 and Aug. 4. This will be organized better once we know where the non-Portland collection sites are and who is available to transport books. Sometimes volunteers who collect books at their home or office deliver the books directly to Coffee Creek.
- Sort books at a sorting party at a home in SW Portland on Aug. 6 (Sunday).
- Deliver books to Coffee Creek. You will pick up banker boxes of books from SW Portland and deliver them to the prison, which is in Wilsonville. We also need deliverers outside of Portland.
If you want to volunteer, please click here and indicate which activity you want to help with and provide your contact information.
Questions? Contact Jill Gibson
Thank you in advance for your support!
Click the map below to find a drop off location near you.