During my tenure as Captain of the Laramie County Jail, I had the privilege of visiting some of the area nursing homes and presenting the residents with quilts created by female inmates assigned to the inmate labor program.
The inmate labor program is where qualifying inmates assist with cleaning the facility and cooking inmate meals. The time they put in goes toward reducing some of their sentence. A Deputy overseeing the jail inmate laborers started the volunteer quilting program.
Over the years, the quilts they created using donated material from the public benefited not only elderly nursing home residents but also young children who were given a smaller quilt and a stuffed animal by deputies responding to crisis calls to comfort them.
All the women in the quilting program took pride in their efforts, knowing a community member benefited from their labor of love. Community giving is only one thing that makes Laramie County a great place to live.