Gifts From Salmonier...

It is a fact that there are inmates at Salmonier (SCI) who have NO money; no means of getting any extras - extras like chips, candy bars and soft drink.

How then, you might ask, do these inmates get such extras? Some will go to work in the kitchen where their pay is ten(1O) Pepsi per week. Some others get assigned to garbage collecting where the pay is the same. More, for a few Pepsi, a couple of bags of chips or for a few candy bars will help out a fellow inmate by making him a plaque, help someone write a letter or will give assistance in completing a few forms or applications. Yet, there are still inmates who cannot afford to purchase items through the canteen. These inmates rely on the charity of other inmates who can afford to order items or who have friends and family who will bring things to them on visits to the Salmonier Correctional Institution.

Amidst this thrifty environment, where the extras are indeed difficult to come by for some; where something so simple as a chocolate bar is secured away in an inmates locker, the School decided to go ahead with an inmate food drive for needy children during the month of December.

All inmates were approached and asked if they would each donate one item (a soft drink or bag of chips). The donations would be collected from the canteen and, just before Christmas, a hamper would be dropped off at a food bank

No encouragement was necessary, only a subtle reminder here and there:

"Did you place a canteen order this week?" "Did you include a Pepsi or a bag of chips on your order slip that would later go in some small childs Christmas stocking?"

...And the orders they trickled in. A major contribution came from those inmates who work in the kitchen and from those who go about each day collecting garbage. These inmates each gave a Pepsi a week for four weeks, a donation that came directly from their pay.

On Monday, December 22, 1997 the food drive ended. inmates at the Salmonier Correctional institution donated 35 cans of soft drink and 9 bags of chips - a major contribution when one considers that many who gave have so little to give.

As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small coins. "1 tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."