2009 - Q2 Barton Award winners. Students at SJA and CHS join to ...

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GRANTED Words of hope Program lets prison dads read to their children >> by Sara Bongiorni photos by tim mueller 50 Ayoung man seated in a chair surrounded by stuffed animals looks into the camera, grins broadly and says hello. Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat waves from a poster on the wall behind him. He lifts a book and begins an animated reading of “The Little Engine that Could,” a favorite story from his own childhood. Three or four minutes later, he completes the story, closes the book and again looks into the camera. “Daddy loves you,” he tells an unseen viewer. The young man is speaking and reading to his young daughter via video for this reason: He cannot hold her on his lap and share a story with her like other fathers do. He is serving time in Phelps Correctional Center north of Lake Charles. An initiative funded by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation allowed the young man and 18 other incarcerated fathers and grandfathers, including several from the Baton Rouge region, to share the joy of a story with their young ones. The effort involves a unique reading-by-video project created by Refined By Fire Ministries, a local nonprofit organization that provides spiritual, life skills and relationship training and support to prisoners at Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson and at other facilities across the state. The purpose of its “Read to Me Daddy” project is to nurture family bonds that can easily be broken while a parent is imprisoned, says Elain Ellerbe, Refined By Fire’s president and chief executive and the creator of the reading initiative. Keeping those bonds strong can help offenders who have served their time remain out of prison for good. The men selected for participation by Phelps officials were all due to be released within a year, meaning they would soon have the opportunity to reconnect with their families in person. “There’s Baton Rouge Area Foundation
Elain Ellerbe of Refined By Fire Ministries shows a video of a father from Phelps Correctional Center reading to his child. growing recognition in the corrections industry that the family is part of the offenders’ strength base, and that it’s important to work to keep that connection between offenders and their families alive,” Ellerbe says. Kendell Hinton, 30, selected a Dora the Explorer book to read to his 1-year-old daughter, a choice that required the extra effort of learning some Spanish words. “It made me feel good to be able to reach out and do that for her,” said Hinton, of New Orleans, adding that his daughter regularly watches the DVD. The reading project is part of Refined By Fire’s efforts to prepare offenders for greater success in work and family life upon their release. Participants must complete a parenting or relationship class prior to the filming, and the children’s mother or guardian also must give permission for the child to accept a DVD of their father reading to them, along with an inscribed copy of the book selected by the Currents Q2 | 2009
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