Woman donates thousands of books to Oklahoma jails
OKLAHOMA CITY, Ok (KFOR) — An Oklahoma City woman is on a mission to donate books to jails and prisons in the state. She started collecting in January and said her goal is to have something for everyone.
News 4 talked with her in March as she was preparing to deliver over two thousand books that were collected or donated.
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“It was a great feeling. We had so much fun. We sang and everybody that we met was so happy and just all smiles,” said Tonya Coonfield who donated books to jails.
Coonfield said she wants every inmate in the state to have access to books.
“Everybody was so excited. We had one guard who just kept telling his jokes. He just he was ecstatic. They said that they hadn’t had books in a long time,” said Coonfield.
Fact, fiction, mystery, and more were all donated to Kingfisher County, Grant County Jail, Alfalfa County Jail, Garfield County Jail, Enid Community Corrections Center, and James Crabtree Correction Center.
She still has a goal of donating to the Oklahoma County Jail in the future.
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However, the dream doesn’t stop there. Coonfield said she’s on a mission.
“I want to get books to everybody in the prison system because boredom is a terrible thing and give them something to occupy their minds and then it makes them you know, it just—- life is better with a book,” said Coonfield.
Coonfield said she already has the next donation of books lined up at more jails in the state.
If you would like to help or donate, you can email her at tjblondie@gmail.com.
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