We asked our volunteers: what brings you to our work? Weβll be sharing these testimonials in the coming months, stay tuned for more!
We asked our volunteers: what brings you to our work? Weβll be sharing these testimonials in the coming months, stay tuned for more!
We have four special requests that we need help fulfilling. Do you have any of these? Are you able to buy one of these books? Let us know!
π How to build engines
π 2026 Almanac
π§βπ Welding how-to
π§ββοΈ Physicians Drug Reference (aka the pill book)
Thanks so much to the Greater Philadelphia Law Library Association for volunteering with us last week!
Join Books Through Bars for a hot dog fundraiser at Nikki Lopez next Friday, February 27th, from 7-9pm!
Thank you to everyone who has been waiting to sign up for a new volunteer orientation! We just released seats at three upcoming orientations, including one this Saturday. Learn more here: www.booksthroughbars.org/volunteer
Happy Valentines Week fellow book lovers, enjoy! Feel free to screenshot our literary themed Valentines to send to your loved ones. And if youβd like the whole PDF to download and print, you can find it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1KzV_fTC6FfPgn-ZD6s7bJ0If-PtpSCw2/view?usp=drive_linkβ€οΈπππππ
This is a part time position that will be paid $15 an hour.
Learn more and apply here; docs.google.com/document/d/e...
Projects will include creating educational resources, fundraising, outreach, and more. Part of the internship will be dedicated to pursuing a special interest research project of the internβs choosing.
Books Through Bars is seeking a Communications Intern for Summer 2026. The intern will gain valuable skills in nonprofit sector communications while learning about the prison industry and contributing to BTBβs mission.
We need books about origami! Consider donating or buying some (wishlist here;https://bookshop.org/wishlists/1ad16b4b359607882ea09ed5d12952fb7b9dcd70) so we can better fulfill the requests we receive from people in prison.
Itβs been a while since we posted a testimony but we still have many more to share! Make sure youβre following, or come volunteer with us to read the many stories we have printed out for volunteers to read in our space!
Join us for a packathon on MLK day! Anyone who has attended a volunteer orientation is welcome! If you havenβt, sign up on our website to start volunteering with us!
2025 was a record breaking year for us! We filled over 10,000 book requests! And weβre not slowing down! We need volunteers to help us catch up on our backlog of letters. If you have already attended a volunteer orientation, join us during our regular drop in hours Mondays and Thursdays 6:30-8:30!
We played Mindustry so much we dreamed about it, and now β after a ban last summer β we miss it.
BOOKS ON STONKS PLS π
How I found my Korean prison dad. He needed help navigating incarceration. I needed a father.
You can do a lot locally with a dedicated group of 15 to 40 people. Regular people should be thinking at that scale rather than at the scale of thousands.
Happy holidays! We need books about wild animals, do you have any lying around to donate?
For more information on donating or buying books for us, visit booksthroughbars.org/donate-books
Do you have books to spare about Islam? We get many requests like this, especially for books in Arabic! Help us fulfill these requests! Donations are greatly appreciated!
We are entirely volunteer-run and donation-based!
2025 has been a year full of serendipitous connections for us here at Books Through Bars. Read our newsletter to learn about the highlights here; tr.ee/B3xgaBMoJN
And consider giving to help us sustain our work for many years to come! booksthroughbars.org/donate
If this speaks to you, please come and volunteer with us or donate books or funds if you can.
We have posted many testimonies at this point; this week we are sharing something that hits a little harder. Please use discretion reading this weekβs story. We have shared it to demonstrate how books to prisoners projects like our own can be lifesaving.
Yes we have a new zine for people who are interested: www.librariesforthepeople.org/resources#fo...
We are proud to be partnering with Fruits of the Family Table again for their annual care package drive! We're collecting items for their donation list; drop by during our regular volunteer sessions (on Mondays and Thursdays from 6:30-8:30) to contribute!