Wings of the Heart

If someone was asking me about volunteering in corrections, I would be telling them that they would be learning as much about themselves and their own skills, their own value system, and some of their own weaknesses as well. When they're reading through case files, when they're interacting with residents, not only are they learning about the residents, they're learning about themselves.

"The volunteers that come into the prison system make me realize that I'm not forgotten; that I'm still a human being. It's so easy to just say, "to hell with everyone", and be bitter and angry. You see that sort of thing so often in here. But through contact with the volunteers, you can rise above the bitterness; you can believe that yes, somebody gives a damn about us, and our families".

I know that it can be a twist of faith, it could be circumstances at any given time that brings someone into our system. I also know that there are many people in our system who have not had a good positive chance right from the beginning to do something meaningful with their life.

I work as a volunteer for the Correctional Service in order to fulfil my responsibilities as a citizen, to act on my conviction that citizenship is a commitment to take action so that our communities work, so that our country works.

The volunteers remind society that we still exist and that the benefits of rehabilitation outweigh the benefits of punishment. For many prisoners hope is kept alive by the volunteers' kindness, warmth and caring. So on behalf of the prisoners around the world who benefit from the volunteers that give of themselves for the benefit of society, we wish to pledge our support as well as our profound gratitude in sincere solidarity.

It fills me with pride to know that this sense of community and humanity exists even in our prisons.

When you work for creator, it's hard to call that volunteer work, whether you're doing it for free, or you're doing it for tobacco, or you're doing it for monetary gain. In our old days, when you did this work, the rest of the community would support you. They would bring you clothing, they would bring you food, they would bring your fire wood for you because you were busy doing ceremonies.

Everyday I learn something, and if I didn't learn, I would be at the end of my healing because I'm on a healing journey for the rest of my life. We don't all start, we all have those little branches of that red road that we fall off once in a while. And the men bring me also that reassurance that I'm on the right path, that I'm doing the right thing by working with them and it's not me, I don't help them. I help them help themselves. They have to help themselves, all I do is I'm there to kind of guide them.

I'm a student and I usually have way too much homework to do. When I go to the prison and visit Melissa and see how she lives and what she has to deal with, when I go back home I have a totally different view of my problems, they are smaller and they are less.

My volunteer helps me by working and talking to me one-on-one. That way I can talk more freely about my feelings. I'm not ashamed to say 'I don't know this word' or 'I can't add this' because there's only the two of us there. It's very open.

I feel differently now. Before, I thought: " These poor people, they should just go on with their life and do something. " But now, I know how hard it is and that it is not an easy life. It just change the way I see people right now, and I'm not judging as much as I did before because I know behind each person is a story, is a history, and not everybody has so much luck as I had to live in a protected house and a protected home.

I found that in the institutional setting, there was a profound need to ask myself: "Henriette, how can you bring good to an environment with so many barriers and so much pain, a place where societies' abusers and abused are found?" Working with these people is my calling.

This is the perfect occasion for us to tell the volunteers that they really make a difference. They listen closely to what we have to say and that actually saves lives. The volunteers believe in us and that helps to change our lives for the better. The hope that they give helps us to leave the criminal world behind. Their companionship shows that mutual support and understanding can lead to a better world.

Sometimes, a volunteer's loving presence contributes to an offender's reintegration and allows them to regain their human dignity. It also makes us feel good as volunteers because it reconnects us to the source of our love. Our love grows together. Love is something you feel, not something to be defined. We feel love when we are in someone else's company, in communion with them.

To me, respect is the most important value. By volunteering, I can pass that belief on to offenders. I can help them to understand that even though they have a criminal record, they are still individuals who deserve our respect. That is why I became a volunteer.

It fills me with pride to know that this sense of community and humanity exists even in our prisons.

When you work for creator, it's hard to call that volunteer work, whether you're doing it for free, or you're doing it for tobacco, or you're doing it for monetary gain. In our old days, when you did this work, the rest of the community would support you. They would bring you clothing, they would bring you food, they would bring your fire wood for you because you were busy doing ceremonies.

Everyday I learn something, and if I didn't learn, I would be at the end of my healing because I'm on a healing journey for the rest of my life. We don't all start, we all have those little branches of that red road that we fall off once in a while. And the men bring me also that reassurance that I'm on the right path, that I'm doing the right thing by working with them and it's not me, I don't help them. I help them help themselves. They have to help themselves, all I do is I'm there to kind of guide them.

I'm a student and I usually have way too much homework to do. When I go to the prison and visit Melissa and see how she lives and what she has to deal with, when I go back home I have a totally different view of my problems, they are smaller and they are less.

My volunteer helps me by working and talking to me one-on-one. That way I can talk more freely about my feelings. I'm not ashamed to say 'I don't know this word' or 'I can't add this' because there's only the two of us there. It's very open.

I feel differently now. Before, I thought: " These poor people, they should just go on with their life and do something. " But now, I know how hard it is and that it is not an easy life. It just change the way I see people right now, and I'm not judging as much as I did before because I know behind each person is a story, is a history, and not everybody has so much luck as I had to live in a protected house and a protected home.

I found that in the institutional setting, there was a profound need to ask myself: "Henriette, how can you bring good to an environment with so many barriers and so much pain, a place where societies' abusers and abused are found?" Working with these people is my calling.

This is the perfect occasion for us to tell the volunteers that they really make a difference. They listen closely to what we have to say and that actually saves lives. The volunteers believe in us and that helps to change our lives for the better. The hope that they give helps us to leave the criminal world behind. Their companionship shows that mutual support and understanding can lead to a better world.

Sometimes, a volunteer's loving presence contributes to an offender's reintegration and allows them to regain their human dignity. It also makes us feel good as volunteers because it reconnects us to the source of our love. Our love grows together. Love is something you feel, not something to be defined. We feel love when we are in someone else's company, in communion with them.

To me, respect is the most important value. By volunteering, I can pass that belief on to offenders. I can help them to understand that even though they have a criminal record, they are still individuals who deserve our respect. That is why I became a volunteer.

Thanking a volunteer is a personal thing between the inmate and the volunteer. There are no words we can write to show how much we appreciate their kindness. Each inmate involved with a volunteer knows that thanking them properly is a difficult job, so we simply say from the heart, THANK YOU!