Pike's prison thanks its volunteers for their help

LORDS VALLEY — The Pike County Correctional Facility held its sixth annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner in September. Over 150 volunteers were honored for their work. Volunteers are important at the prison. They offer inmates religious programs, life skills training programs, computer training programs and drug and alcohol counseling. They try to help the inmates make better choices in life than they had done before. Making poor choices is the reason they became incarcerated and the volunteers work at helping to keep recidivism to a minimum. Ed Sinkovitch of Walkng Your Faith said, “With the help of the volunteers the rate of return to prison for inmates has been reduced by as much as 90 percent.” “I see a change in the inmates when they participate in the Alcohol Anonymous program. They learn in here and then follow through after release,” reported Jim Michael of Faith Christian Outreach Church. Volunteers and guests did a bit of work as well, as they were asked to judge selections of inmate produced projects. The projects were handmade woven items, such as hats and scarves, and an essay project. The top three women inmates in the weaving project and the top three male inmates in the essay contest were awarded achievement certificates. Warden Craig Lowe then invited the six winners to join the volunteers for the sit-down dinner. The facility’s cafeteria was set up for the guests, who numbered just under 200. After remarks by Warden Craig Lowe, thanking all the volunteers for their effort and telling them of their importance, it was time for dinner. The volunteers and their guests filled their plates from a buffet-style food lineup. There were salads, a nice selection of bite-size cheese pieces and a main course which consisted of Maryland crab cakes as well as lemon chicken. After dinner Warden Lowe and Assistant Warden Robert McLaughlin handed out award certificates and gifts to the volunteers. Also recognized was the Honorable Judge Kameen of the Pike County Court of Common Pleas. Pike County Commissioners Richard Caridi and Karl Wagner were on hand as well as Pike County Sheriff Philip Bueki. After coffee and desert was served Pastor Vinnie Brown of the New Covenant Fellowship of Hawley closed the evening with a benediction.