Flagler College, in St. Augustine, FL, has over 40
different clubs available on campus for students to participate in, not
including the academic clubs available as well. This semester, one club in
particular has been attempting to not only give back to the community, but
raise awareness for a large group of people that are often neglected.
Flagler’s Black Student Association started the
Liberation Through Literature book drive that collects books for inmates in the
Florida Department of Correction’s system. According to Dr. Michael Butler, the
club’s faculty advisor, the book drive was one way that BSA could give back to
the community in a way that not many people would consider.
“The prison system in America is often forgotten
about, thrown away, or people look at prisoners through one set of prejudiced
eyes or another and many times they are people who have made mistakes and want
to improve their lives after their release,” Butler said. “I think it’s a small
thing to donate books that we may or may not read anymore. It’s something that
can make a substantive difference in their lives that we’ll never understand.”
Near the beginning of this semester at Flagler
College, Dr. Butler proposed the idea for the book drive to the students active
in BSA and he was met with excitement from the students to start a program that
could last beyond their time at Flagler.
“I think the book drive is really important for not
only the correctional facilities but also for the club,” said Kayla Lloyd, a
senior at Flagler College who started BSA again after a few years of it not
being an active club on campus. “Roughly, I think we’ve already gotten about
250 books donated. It’s something that we can continue to do forever for the
inmates, I think it’s really great.”
Dr. Butler reached out to Jennifer Shullih, the
Region II Library and Volunteer Services Coordinator for the Florida Department
of Corrections, and has been working with her to help facilitate the
distribution of the books collected throughout the entire state correctional
system.
As of March 2016, the Florida
Department of Corrections housed over 97,000 inmates in their 151 correctional
facilities across the state, according to the department’s website. These
inmates are offered the opportunity to participate in educational programs but
are often lacking the means to do so.
“I learned that they have no
funding, none, for their libraries. They solely rely on donations, which they
don’t get many of,” Butler said. “If one of the things that we are trying to do
is rehabilitate, educate and release more productive members into society once
their time has been served, it seems to me kind of ridiculous that they don’t
have any type of institutional funding for their library system.”
The success of the book drive started when BSA
students accepted the idea, said Butler. One of the main reasons why the club
was so adamant on following through with the drive was because they knew it
would help to start a conversation about the incarcerated that needed to be
had.
“The idea may have been mine, but
the initiative comes from the students,” Butler said. “We wanted to have a
program that would make a difference and was misunderstood or not your typical
fundraising type of social awareness drive. Hurricane victims and the Humane
Society, things like that they’re all really valuable, but they have support.
One of the things that we hoped would start a discussion with students would be
to start this book drive for the incarcerated.”
Dr. Butler expressed that anyone on
campus is welcome to get involved with BSA and become a member if they are
interested in continuing to help members of the community who can’t help
themselves.
“BSA is not just a club for students
of color, it’s a club that supports all students, particularly those of color.
You just have to be someone who really believes in the club mission,” Butler
said. “We want to make Flagler a multi-ethnic diverse campus, we want to be
inclusive. It’s everyone’s campus.”
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