Volunteers Week 3-9 June
In nearly 17 years of volunteering, Caroline has written more than 3,000 letters to people who have reached out for help from prison. This month her dedication and service is to be recognised in Oxfordshire’s Volunteer Celebration Awards where she will be highly commended for long service.
As a mentor with The Prison Phoenix Trust, Caroline offers the hand of friendship to people in prison at the lowest time in their lives, helping them see that another way is possible, that there is hope of living a life away from crime.
She is one of 31 volunteers, including 15 mentors, at the charity, which helps people in prison use meditation and yoga to aid rehabilitation and to reintegrate into society when they are released. The volunteers’ contributions are essential to the small organisation, which has just 6 paid staff, most working part-time.
The role of the volunteer mentors is to respond to letters from prisoners who write seeking help to practise meditation or yoga in their prison cells. The mentors draw on their own experience and training from The Prison Phoenix Trust to offer support and encouragement. Continue Reading