Thanks to our amazing students at CGU, we have multiple boxes of books to donate to the Prison Library Project (PLP), which calls Claremont Forum’s Bookshop home. The Book Forum can be found in the Claremont Village Packing House near the Iron and Kin Coffee Shop. For students who donated books, they received tickets to an Ontario Reign hockey game at the Toyota Arena. Since 1993, the PLP have mailed half a million books to correctional facilities across the United States. At their core, the Prison Library Project “firmly believes that unrestricted access to reading is a fundamental human right” (Prison Library Project). Their volunteer-driven program focuses on delivering books and educational resources to incarcerated individuals. The Prison Library Project is also committed to “alleviating the dehumanizing and isolating effects of incarceration, offering our readers a sense of belonging within a compassionate and supportive community” (Prison Library Project). Due to the tireless efforts of its volunteers, the program has grown exponentially over the years. The PLP receives more than 200 letters a week from over 400 state and federal prisons and detention centers in the United States. Their program mails over 20,000 books each year, including boxes of books to prison librarians, educators, and chaplains.

For those who donated in this time of giving at CGU, we got the chance to blow off some much-needed steam from the looming exam week. The Ontario Reign played against the Coachella Valley Firebirds on December 1st. About 20 CGU students sat in the lower bowl and witnessed a hockey fight within two minutes of game play beginning. While this boxing win did not help the Reign defeat the Firebirds, it did get a rise out of the crowd. Typically, when a team is losing the whole game people leave early, but it was not the case here at the Toyota Arena. The crowd stuck tight and cheered the team on to the very end. Several students enjoyed the game breaks and activities played throughout the match. Even though we didn’t get any jumbotron screen time, all of us CGU students had a great time cooling off from exams. If you wish to learn more about how to donate books or volunteering at the Prison Library Project, please check out their website https://www.claremontforum.org/prisonlibraryproject.

Here is a great thank you to all of the CGU students who donated and attended the game!!