There is a popular story about a man picking up stranded starfish on the beach, one at a time, and throwing them, back into the water. When asked what difference he hoped to make with such a large number of stranded starfish, he threw another one in and said,“I made a difference for that one!”
BibleTelling has developed a one-on-one adult reading program called Language Olympics. All the lessons center around 30 Bible stories, taking a person from grade 0 reading level to grade 5 reading level in less than a year. While this program is used in homes, schools, and churches, it is especially popular in prisons.
WHY: (source)
- 60% of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate
- 70% of inmates who leave prison without learning to read will return to prison
- 84% of inmates who leave prison after learning to read will not return to prison
MAKE A DIFFERENCE:
- Language Olympics equips inmates who can read to tutor inmates who can’t read. Prison will often pay these inmates to tutor other inmates–but the cost of the materials is not covered.
- Project Starfish is a fund-raising initiative to cover the cost of the Language Olympics workbooks for inmate students
- $30 will provide a complete set of 6 Language Olympics workbooks for one inmate
- Join Project Starfish with a monthly contribution of $30 and you can make a difference for one inmate every month–an inmate who will be much more likely to stay out of trouble and never return to prison.
Will you make a difference?