By Tom Rohrer
During his work day, Paris Albertsen interacts with men who have made mistakes.
A classification counselor at Cedar Creek Corrections Center, Albertsen’s discussions with offenders gives him an insight into what led to their incarceration.
“They’ve spent a lifetime acting in a way they’re not proud of,” said Albertsen, a Department of Corrections employee since 2005. “But here, they have a chance to shine somewhat and give back.”
Albertsen is referring to four quarterly fundraisers organized by the facility every year. Proceeds from the fundraisers are given to a charity or charitable organization of the offender’s choice within the surrounding community.
For their winter drive, offenders decided on a pizza sale in advance of Super Bowl Sunday in early February.
Around 220 Costco pizzas were sold by the offenders, raising $700 for Bread and Roses, an Olympia based non-profit organization that has served the homeless community for more than 25 years.
On Thursday, March 20, Albertsen presented a $700 check to Bread and Roses Board of Directors Secretary Selena Kilmoyer and volunteer hosts Meta Hogan and Phil Owen.
The price for each pizza was marked up to $14 for the fundraiser. Inmates earn 42 cents an hour through their jobs at the Corrections Center, meaning that purchasing a pizza puts a significant dent in the offender’s savings. This fact wasn’t lost on Albertsen or the Bread and Roses representatives.
“I was just fortunate enough to come out here and represent the gentleman making 42 cents an hour. That’s a lot of labor hours they’ve donated to this organization and I think it touched the Bread Roses staff,” said Albertsen. “It’s not a $20,000 check by any means but Bread and Roses understands and greatly appreciates what the offenders are donating and how hard they worked for it.”
Past organizations and charities selected by the Cedar Creek offenders include the Hands on Children’s Museum and Little Rock Elementary School. Bread and Roses was selected due to its consistent impact on the community and the help it’s provided to some of the offenders themselves.
“Here’s an organization that has been around for thirty years and really is helping or has helped a portion of the gentlemen in here,” said Albertsen. “It’s an easy cause for them to support and get behind.”
Albertsen provided details on what goes into the selection process and the organization of the fundraiser.
“We set it up through Costco and the offenders have two weeks to figure out if they want to participate or buy a pizza. They’re aware it’s above and beyond normal pricing and that the rest of those funds will be donated to a charity of the offender’s choice,” he said. “They have a tier rep committee that meets and requested information on local charities, food banks, and shelters. Bread and Roses happened to be in there and the gentlemen took a vote. It was a unanimous decision to donate the funds from their fundraisers to Bread and Roses.”
“I gathered paperwork and figures every morning and the offenders helped organize it and made up spreadsheets to keep everything grouped together. This was about two hours of work per day for a couple of weeks to get it going,” Albertsen continued. “Costco was outstanding, and we got the right information to them and they did the same for us. We didn’t have one mistake and sold around 220 pizzas. There wasn’t one mistake in the order, and that’s pretty impressive to me.”
The fundraisers are held in an effort to get the offenders working for positive causes. A similar program provides dogs for wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The Department of Corrections and Cedar Creek Correctional Center are trying to instil some civic pride and duty in the offenders,” said Albertsen. “They realize some of the decisions they’ve made in the past haven’t been the right choices and this is part of the process to learn how to make the right ones.
Albertsen takes pride in the offenders who choose to participate and believes their donations show part of their true character.
“This is great work these guys are doing and it really speaks volumes,” Albertsen said. “Our guys wanted to make an immediate impact somewhere and I think they’ve certainly done that.”
