VVGSQ
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, California
This is the true story about a group of veterans, who are contributing to society......... and all of them are in San Quentin State Prison.
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, California
Although the group had been meeting for some time, the name officially began on April 7, 1987.....Read the history of the VVGSQ from the beginning to present day.
From 1990 to the present, the VVGSQ has donated $64,338.35.
It contains the Program Scheduled for the day, the V.V.G.S.Q. Constitution,
Sponsors, Executive Body, Members at Large, Members, Photos, Distinguished Guests and
Supporters, History and Accomplishments of the V.V.G.S.Q., Menu, Lee Greenwood's "I'm
Proud to be an American", San Quentin Veterans Issues Group Program, Operation:Mom,
and how Spooky got his name.
24 pages. Check it out!
The VVGSQ has always supported the San Quentin Christmas Toy Program with toy donations as well as by running the program each year. The Warden has authorized the VVGSQ to sponsor this program and the group purchased the "Santa" suit, beard and wig that is used for an appearance of Santa to the children each year at the visiting room. The program benefits all the children who come to visit family at San Quentin during the Christmas season.
San Quentin Prison visiting room - December 18, 2005
*Started in 1988, December 2009 will be the 21st year the program has been giving away toys and bringing Santa to the children who visit San Quentin.
The Scholarship program was started in 1990. Funds are raised from food sales. The money is then given to the child of a veteran who plans on going to college. Family members of the VVGSQ are not eligible for the scholarship. Contact your High School for application. Deadline is in May. Award winners receive their awards at a luncheon in June.
The VVGSQ provides a color guard at the GED and college graduations, the 911 remembrance and other functions as requested by the Warden.
The goal of the R.E.A.L. Choices Program is to inform at-risk youth that the choices they make in their life today will not only affect the rest of their lives, but will also affect the victims and the lives of everyone's family and friends. Team "C" of the Choices Program is made up of members of the VVGSQ. At-risk youth are mentored inside the walls of the prison by the prisoners.
Canceled stamps are collected from mainline, condemned row and R/C prisoners. After collecting the stamps, they are sent to disables veterans.
A non-profit organization that the VVGSQ supports with cash donations, assembly of care packages consisting of food, hygiene products, clothing items, and letters to our Troops that are deployed.
*March 12, 2005, Operation:Mom held a "Packing Day" at the prison. This was the second time the VVGSQ and Operation:Mom worked together to send "A Little Touch Of Home" to our Troops that are deployed overseas. View
pictures
A new V.V.G.S.Q. project started March 2008 where can tabs are collected to assist families who have children with cancer.
At the September 28, 2008 General Membership meeting the Presentation Boxes project began. It involves making wooden boxes from cedar timbers with a long history....
Tabs For Tot's
Presentation Boxes
In 1849 the ship The Waban sailed from New York to the San Francisco coast where a few years later it became the first California prison. Once the prison was built on land, The Waban was decommissioned and some of the cedar beams were reused as the building structure for a library and education building at San Quentin prison. In 2008 that building was demolished but the cedar beams were again salvaged to be reused in the new San Quentin hospital's artium. The remaining cedar beams are being made into wooden boxes and are being presented by the VVGSQ to wounded military and honorable men and women.
------------------------
The Waben
------------------------
The 1st Annual motorcycle run inside San Quentin Prison presented by the Iron Pigs Motorcycle Club and the V.V.G.S.Q.
The VVGSQ has been authorized by the Warden to find a veteran owned business to provide jobs for vets at San Quentin. The business must help other veterans.
NEW UPDATE
- "And, Some Are Not So Lucky! A Blueprint for Success In Reintegrating Veterans Incarcerated". Click here to view the article. Airborne Quarterly Magazine - Spring 2009.
- "San Quentin American Veterans Prisoners Donate To GOGI". Click here to view the story. From the Getting Out By Going In (GOGI) - dedicated to the education and enpowerment or at risk and incarcerated individuals, October 21, 2008.
- "The American Veteran". See the video of the VVGSQ members. Go to the US Department of Veterans Affairs website here, (scroll down to the January 2008 Edition and click on "San Quentin"). From The United Stated Department of Veterans Affairs.
- "Veterans Incarcerated". Click here to view the article. August 2006, Issue 91 of Between The Lines, Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. Chapter 20, page 3, written by Ron Trovato, Chair. (Note: page may take awhile to load.)
- "Veterans Incarcerated". Click here to view the article. August 2006, Issue 91 of Between The Lines, Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. Chapter 20, page 6, written by Ron Trovato, Chair. (Note: page may take awhile to load.)
- "Locked away in San Quentin, some Vietnam vets try paying back with college scholarships". Click here to view the story. November 13, 2005 article by Peter Rowe, San Diego Union-Tribune.
- "Inside the Walls of San Quentin - A Glimpse at Incarcerated Vietnam Vererans". Plowshares, Spring 2005, page 6.
- "Reaching out behind bars". Click here to view the article. CDAPress.com, Coeur d'Alene Press - March 21, 2005.
- "Vets reach out from behind bars - San Quentin veterans' group wins respect by supporting troops and their families". Click here to view the news article. San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, September 3, 2004.
- "Inmates have history supporting U.S. war efforts". Click here to view the news article. SFGate.com - Friday, September 3, 2004 article by John Geluardi.
- "Vets reach out from behind bars". Click here to view the article. Veterans Today - America's Premier Veterans News Source, Tuessday September 7, 2004 Topic: Heros.
- "California San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin". Click here to view the article. Office of Correctional Job Training and Placement (OCJTP) - Annual Report to Congress, Fiscal Years 2001 and 2002, page 17.
San Quentin State Prison began in 1851 on The Waban ship, known as "The Convict Ship", anchored in the San Francisco Bay at Point San Quentin, in Marin County, just North of the City of San Francisco. The prisoners would labor to build the prison during the day and sleep on the ship at night. In July 1852, the prison officially opened. San Quentin is the oldest State Prison in California.
