Program lets jailed moms read to their kids for holidays

Deborah Scott gave the woman sitting across the card table a quiet pep talk about recording a storybook.

“If you make a mistake, don’t worry about it,” Scott told DaShaundra Lewis in the jail gymnasium. “Just kinda laugh it off. If you were at home, you’d just keep going, right?”

After a few more instructions, Lewis, a 29-year-old prisoner from Columbus, recorded a personal message to her 3-year-old daughter and then read her God Must Really Love ... Colors.

“Hey, Tootie, it’s Mommy!” Lewis said into the digital recorder. “God must really love red.”

On Monday morning, the Franklin County jail on Jackson Pike hosted the Aunt Mary’s Storybook Project for the first time. Six mothers read into Scott’s recorder for their children, who won’t see them during the holidays.

Vineyard Columbus church in Westerville is the local facilitator of the national program. Church volunteers burn the recording onto a CD, and then gift-wrap both the CD and the storybook to send to the child’s caregiver.

The books are donated to the church, and the mothers choose which book they will read and send.

Scott, the church’s ministry coordinator, said 4,000 inmates at the Ohio Reformatory for Women have participated since 2006. The parents often become emotional during the reading, or they give the characters different voices or names or personalize the story with inside jokes.

This year, the sheriff’s office reached out to Vineyard to expand the program to the jail. From what Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott (no relation to Deborah) witnessed on Monday, it was “absolutely” worthwhile.

“We have been working on several different programs all centered on cutting recidivism,” the sheriff said. “This is another way to give them motivation to stay out of trouble, to keep that family connection strong.”

Each of the mothers is selected by the jail staff. Their crimes do not involve their children. They all took a six-week parenting class through the jail. The recording was part of the graduation process.

Lewis has been in jail since September for a probation violation and is scheduled to be released on Jan. 16. She said she is praying that the judge gives her early release before Christmas “so I can be home with my kids.” She hasn’t seen her two younger children since the summer; they don’t know she’s in jail.

For her oldest, nearly 11, Lewis read him Actual Size by Steve Jenkins, which offers interesting facts about animals. She started the recording with a disclaimer: “I know you’re gonna think this is so corny, but I’m going to read it anyway.”

Afterward, she explained with a laugh, “He’s just too hip for this.”

Chelsie Runyon, 30, of Columbus, read three books for her five children, ages 9, 8, 5, 4 and 11⁄ She said they’ll be surprised by this gift in the mail.

“I think they’ll be ecstatic with it,” Runyon said.

The next group to take the parenting class will be fathers. They’ll get their chance to record a book at the end.

Deborah Scott said the Aunt Mary’s program could expand if more people would volunteer. It’s not intimidating to work with prisoners, as some people might believe.

“We’re well-loved here,” she said.

Those interested in volunteering can reach Deborah Scott at Vineyard Columbus, 614-890-0000.