It is with some sadness that we report that the UCG Mommy Reads program, which ran from March 2012-March 2020, has been discontinued due to the changing and onerous rules of the DeSantis administration, the need for lay and clergy leadership of the program, and the danger to our volunteers due to lax masking and vaccination rules at the prison. The good news is that all of the remaining assets of the program have been put to good use. Some of the children’s books went to the UCG banned books collection, many went to a disadvantaged school and tutoring program in Hawthorne, and the rest to the Friends of the Library. The MP3 players and recorders went to Al’z Place and other elder care options where they will be used to record individualized music programs for elders and dementia patients, who often respond positively to familiar music. The stationery and paper goods will be used by the UCG office and the Repurpose Project.

On March 20 the Church Council voted to donate the balance of $8,366.08 remains in the Mommy Reads line item to LEAP, the Ladies Empowerment and Action Program, an independent 501c3 organization that runs a re-entry program for women formerly incarcerated in Florida. This money was raised largely outside UCG via grants, fund-raisers, and a generous donor. While the terms of all of the grants have been fulfilled, the money was given with the understanding that it would be used to assist incarcerated women and their children.

The State of Florida gives women leaving prisons only $50 and a bus ticket. The former Mommy Reads volunteers unanimously recommended that these funds be donated to LEAP for reasons that include:

• A LEAP volunteer meets women at the prison when they are released and takes them everywhere they need to go in those critical initial days: to their probation officer and to get housing, food, employment, etc.
• Graduates of LEAP’s intensive five-month entrepreneurship program have only a 6% recidivism rate within three years.
• LEAP comes to the Ocala women’s prisons twice per year to interview candidates for their program who are then transferred to the Homestead women’s prison if accepted.
• The LEAP anti-discrimination statement is broad and consistent with UCG values.

The Mommy Reads program had a wonderful run at UCG. During our eight years we distributed books and recordings to 3,588 children in 65 Florida counties, 37 states and territories, and four foreign countries. All of our volunteers thank UCG for the opportunity to be part of this program. We believe LEAP is best positioned to continue our work. Mahlia Lindquist, Executive Director of LEAP, has pledged that “you have my assurance that LEAP will use the funds in the spirit for which they were originally donated: in service to the rehabilitation of women in prison so that they can be the mothers their children need.”