Inmates' gifts are labors of love

AUBURN, N.Y. — In Christmas lore, Santa's helpers are virtuous elves who live in a castle at the North Pole and make gifts in a bustling workshop.

For hundreds of needy families in this upstate New York city, they are men who dwell behind foot-thick stone walls and often work in solitude inside steel-barred cells.

The Vietnam Veterans of America chapter at New York's maximum-security Auburn Correctional Facility crocheted 205 sets of hats and gloves for needy children this year, in addition to crafting yarn belts and nearly 200 pairs of fleece-lined leather moccasins. Inmates also raise money and make food donations.

"Knowing that there are kids who go to school without hats and scarves, and just you knowing that one of them is wearing something you made them, it makes you feel good," said inmate Robert Ahalt, a convicted murderer and the chapter's first vice president.

The children don't know where the gifts come from, but administrators take pictures of them with their gifts to send to the inmates. Some families also send notes of thanks.

"These men are still human and they have hearts. This is truly a labor of love," said Frank Bell, a past president of another VVA chapter who has helped the prison chapter make sure gifts get to those who need them for more than a decade.

The inmates started donating food to local relief efforts 14 years ago. They added hats and scarves to their repertoire five years ago. This year, the 74 members of VVA Chapter 205 collected more than 1,500 cans and jars of food, some of it donated by some of the prison's other 1,700-plus inmates.

The chapter also raised $1,800 by soliciting donations from other VVA chapters upstate, the Disabled Veterans of America and from private individuals who heard about their charity work.

Chapter members contributed $295 by saving their earnings from prison jobs, which pay five to 15 cents an hour.

"They do it from the heart," said Rebecca McLaurin, program director at the Booker T. Washington Center in Auburn, which receives a half of the collected funds for its annual "Love Dinner" from the chapter. The dinner attracts about 150 people each Valentine's Day.

"Most people don't know that they do it, and they do a lot more than those people even know," McLaurin said. "I know it has given me new perspectives that there is good in everyone."