UAB Professor Martha Earnhardt and her students helped AIM women record holiday videos for their families.

Even though their mothers can’t be with them to read bedtime stories, the children who are part of AIM outreach can still hear special messages thanks to the Storybook Program. The program provides comfort to children each month by offering them a tape recording of their mothers reading books.

Volunteers go to the prison one Saturday a month and help the mothers prepare a DVD recording of a book to send to their children. The children’s books are donated by local churches, businesses, organizations and individuals. If a mother doesn’t read well, a volunteer assists by reading the book to the mother and letting her repeat the words into the camera. The DVD, along with the children’s book, are then mailed from AIM.

Each month, more than 350 children eagerly await these packages. Often the mothers will also record a message or song to personalize the recording for their child. For some children, who perhaps have a guardian unwilling or unable to take them for visits, these DVDS may be their only contact with their mothers.