Holiday Fund: Service League helps jail inmates, families Holiday Fund: Service League helps jail inmates, families (December 15, 2004)

By Marjorie Mader

Almanac Staff Writer

Working out of a historic brick building across from the old courthouse dome in Redwood City, staff and volunteers of the Service League of San Mateo County are positioned to help inmates at nearby county jails.

They respond to written requests from the 1,200 men and women housed in the county jails on any given day.

Some requests are simple: "I need a couple of envelopes to write letters"; or, "Call my finance and let her know that if they don't release me on the second to come bail me out."

Some of the 142,665 requests from inmates last year were more involved, says Elizabeth Gheleta, executive director of the Service League since 1978.

"We want to be that helping hand to people to effect change in their behavior," she says.

Contributions to the Almanac's Holiday Fund are matched and help the Service League continue its mission: helping rebuild the lives of inmates and former inmates, and returning them to the community as self-sufficient residents.

The organization does more than provide toys for inmates' children at Christmas, decorated bags of home-baked holiday cookies for inmates, and child care while families are waiting to visit a father at the Maguire Facility.

The Service League also contacts attorneys and probation officers, provides clothes for jury trials, and sends trained tutors to help inmates learn to read.

Help continues when inmates return to the community. Service League staff members conduct an assessment interview to determine what emergency assistance is needed -- such as food, clothing, shelter. The league also offers counseling, referrals to other agencies, and information on employment possibilities.

Many inmates are in jail a short time -- an average of three to four months -- but that's enough to disrupt someone's life, says Ms. Gheleta. They probably lose their jobs and the place where they're staying, are unable to keep up car payments, and put their families in difficult situations by having to move in with relatives or go to homeless shelters, she says.

"Lots of people who wind up in jail have problems with alcohol and drug abuse and mental health problems, especially since county and state mental health services have been drastically curtailed," says Ms. Gheleta, a longtime Menlo Park resident.

To help former inmates on the road to recovery, the Service League operates Hope House, where women who have been in prison and have drug or alcohol addiction can live, and FAR (Freedom and Recovery) House for men. The goal is to help people break the cycle of alcohol and drug relapses and avoid returning to jail.

Housed in the renovated 1910 Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Exchange building, the agency office is a welcoming place.

"We don't have a small, closed system. We want the community involved," says Ms. Gheleta.

Most of the work is done by 560 volunteers, who donated 28,678 hours last year. The agency also works with other community organizations to expand resources available to its clients.

Funds are needed to keep programs going. More volunteers are needed to handle the increasing volume of requests for service. Always welcome are donations of greeting cards for all occasions -- birthdays, friendship, thinking of you -- that those in county jails can send to their families.
INFORMATION

The Service League of San Mateo County aims to rebuild the lives of county-jail inmates and former inmates, and help their children and families through a variety of services and volunteers. For more information, call Elizabeth Gheleta, executive director, at 365-4664, or e-mail info@serviceleague.org. The address is 727 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA 94063.

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