EDITOR:

As lead volunteer for “In Your Cell’ jail/prison ministry out of Wellspring Church and officed in First Methodist Church, both in Escanaba, we are seeking male volunteers to assist us in our prison adoption program. And, you do not have to be a Marine. For nine years now, beginning locally, In Your Cell now operates in four U.P. counties and all of Michigan’s 27 men’s prisons. We are personally connected to about 80 men and we work locally with clergy, social service agencies, courthouse personnel, attorneys, etc. In our nine years, Becky, Dan, I and others have worked with and mentored over 200 men including many local, non-incarcerated, male teens.

Our biggest outreach program has been our adoption program where we seek men to adopt a Michigan prisoner to correspond with once per month, no phone calls, no money involved. The inmate also writes monthly, both parties taking about an hour per month. We vet the inmates for suitability to match well. As of June, we have successfully matched 21 men and are currently seeking to adopt seven more.

We deal with the 20 percent of inmates, “inside friends,” who wish to make good time use of their incarceration. Sadly, about 80 percent of Michigan prisoners have zero to little outside contacts, even minimal family in many cases. Manly contact is crucial. We ask adopters to provide support, encouragement, a good role model, support for Christian values and ‘guy stuff’ and a one-year initial commitment,

Volunteers can be 24, 34, 54, 74, whatever age. We are only seeking a willingness to benefit a person who is reaching out. Some adopters wonder what to write about. Not a problem. We can hook you up with current adopters for information about their successes. We have had some outside folks adopting over five years now. And, you do not have to be local to adopt.

For more information, I can be reached on FB, Michael Roy Olson, or by email, wyolaramie@yahoo.com. I hope that I am so swamped with responses, it may take me a while to get back to you. Men, I will get back to you. Thanks so much for your consideration. Information is of course free, no initial obligation. You could adopt pets, building bricks, camp scholarships, etc. How about a man? A recent prison study indicated 100 percent of inmates polled had negative impressions of their fathers. I asked one warden how he would describe the men in his prison, and he said, “They are like little boys waiting for dad to come home.” Come on guys — save a man.

Mike Olson

Escanaba