Prison Ministry Volunteers
“…I was in prison and you came to see me.”
Matthew 25:36
Prison Ministry Volunteers is a non-profit organization designed to provide services to the incarcerated community and support the prison staff and Chaplains primarily serving the two prisons located in Diboll, Texas. One is the Rufus H. Duncan Unit with about 500 offenders and is a geriatric prison. The second is the Diboll unit, a privately run unit with another 500 offenders.
Our services include Bible Study, Life Recovery and AA programs, Indigent Toiletries Ministry, support of church services and a Spanish service, a Grief course and learning to live and heal after loss, and Exercise Program (softball). Graduation and Celebration activites include staff appreciation as well. We also have customized the course on Grieving and bring the program to a local halfway house for women.
Donations are primarily used for the purchase of books and workbooks and material for the various studies, purchase of toiletry items for the indigent ministry (for offenders who have no outside family or friend support), postage for letter writing, Subscription(s) to a recovery magazine and literature for the recovery group.
There are no paid volunteers. The only admin fees are for the website domain, email, hosting and security and office necessities to support a specific ministry. We are an official non-profit corporation in the State of Texas and are in the process of becoming an official 501C3.
There are no paid employees. All position both on the Board of Directors and staff functions are volunteer.
How You Can Get Involved
Volunteer Program
To volunteer for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, visit their website at TDCJ.
Everything you need to know about becoming an approved volunteer is available to you there. You must be trained and certified by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Sponsor Program
If you would like to financially support our ministry through financial donations, visit our Donate page. These donations help us fund the printing of our material 2-3 times per year. You can make a recurring donation which helps us budget our expenditures. It might just be a book of stamps to write letters or help purchase a recovery magazine subscription or group book. Every little bit helps.
Indigent, Charity and Christmas Gift Fund
Our Indigent Fundraising efforts helps support offenders who do not have family or friends on the “outside” to support them. Volunteers are NOT allowed to make any direct donation to any offender. The Indigent program enables us to purchase items such as shampoo, deodorant, soap or toothpaste for those in this situation. These offenders are identified through the Chaplain ministry at each unit and distributed accordingly.
News & Updates
Prison Ministry Volunteers Bible Study Graduation
GRADUATION: Offender Bible Study Certificates were awarded for graduation for each member of the Grace Revolution Bible Study. Class members completed reading the Book and completing the workbook and actively engaging in the weekly classes. Each member of the class...
Prison Ministry Volunteers Update
Prison Ministry Volunteer 2020-2021 Update:Here is a Prison Ministry Volunteers Update for 2020 and 2021. The Year of COVID-19. As with everyone and everywhere, COVID-19 affected our ability to provide direct ministry services to the prison. Around March of 2020, the...
Prison Ministry Volunteers Web Site Launch
Today marks the day of our first post on the Prison Ministry Volunteers Web site, https://prisonministryvolunteers.org Prison Ministry Volunteers is a non-profit organization designed to provide services to the incarcerated community and support the prison staff and...
Ongoing Projects
Christmas 2020
We are so excited to share with you a miracle in bringing a token of remembrance as we celebrated the birthday of the baby Jesus. In working with Chaplain Willis, he gave us the idea of an orange and an apple. We began our search and found that it was going to be quite an undertaking. We prayed and shared over several weeks to no avail. A week before Christmas, we asked our small group to pray. The very next morning, Mr. Don W. (on the Board of Directors of PMV), called to say “…get the garage empty, 10 cases of oranges and 10 cases of apples are on their way, donated anonymously.” A member of our group had found an anonymous donor! God is good. The Lufkin area has some really good people. They have truly are not forgotten these men and we are so grateful for their generous and willing spirits to help us in this ministry.
Indigent Toiletries
July and August were both months of great generosity from the Lufkin and Diboll community.
Don and Robbie Wier donated a Matching Grant that for every dollar we raised in July and August, they would match that amount up to $1000.00. In July, we raised $1,000 with donations from Inheritance Ministries, The Walkers and The Estes. With the matching grant received, we are able to fulfill our goal for the Indigent Toiletries. Thank you to all you have donated. Every donation is appreciated and put to good use. Ministry, We have delivered shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste and soap for over 300 offenders at a time.
If you would like to help, email us at info@prisonministryvolunteers.org or fill out the contact us form or press here to donate directly.
Recovery Ministry
With these funds, we have purchased and delivered to the Diboll Unit for our Weekly Recovery Meetings:
- “The Story of Bill Wilson” DVD
- Monthly Subscription to The Grapevine Magazine
- NA – Narcotics Anonymous Book
- Spanish Version of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous
- Spanish Version of the Twelve and Twelve
- “Desire Chip” Bookmarks
- Set of “Cans of Success Bookmarks” by Freedom in Christ Ministries for members of the Recovery Group Class
Duncan Unit Bible Study
- Grace Revolution Books & Workbooks (50)
- Joy of Living Romans Study (50)
- Joy of Living Study of John (25)
- Billy Graham Autobiography DVD
Letter Writing Ministry
Several times a month, our volunteers write letters to those offenders participating in our classes about our Bible studies and general conversational topics allowed during the COVID-19 Quarantine period. The offenders are on medical lock down frequently during this perriod which means no calls, no congregating, no cafeteria. The letters mean a lot during this difficult period.
If you would like to help, email us at info@prisonministryvolunteers.org or fill out the contact us form.
Our August project was to develop our Birthday Greetings list to enable sending a greeting ,which we completed. We found an auththorized vendor to mail the letters but unfortunately, they were rejected as the vendor did not properly identitfy themselves. We will begin again in February, 2021 by writitng birthday letters instead!
“Grieving – Even in Prison,
You are Not Alone” Curriculum
We need to print approximately 100 copies of the workbook and 5 copies of the teaching curriculum master book to begin this new curriculum approved by Huntsville TDCJ. We are in the process of getting competitive bids for the most economic way to have the material printed.
We have found the most competitive propsal and will have printed locally. For our second version, we have condensed some of the material to eliminate any duplication and have Added the name “Life and Healing After Loss.” Many of the attendees avoided the name “grief” but are interested in learning about life and healing after loss.
If you would like to help, email us at info@prisonministryvolunteers.org or fill out the contact us form.
Donate Now — Thank You
