* Past Scholarship Award Winners *

STAMPS FOR SOLDIERS Squad

Canceled stamps are collected from mainline, condemned row and R/C prisoners. After collecting the stamps, they are sent to the Wounded Warrior Program at the Walter Reed Hospital and distributed to disabled military veterans. (The Stamps for Soldiers program needs used stamps still on the ripped off corners of envelopes.) Wounded veterans work on developing eye and hand coordination by peeling the used stamps off the corners of th envelopes.

The disabled veterans peel off the stamps as a form of physical therapy and create "Collages" and other works of art.

Currently the VGSQ is looking for a location to send the stamps

CAMARADERIE NIGHT SQUAD

This Committee is responsible for selecting a military movie and arranging the group activity.

TABS FOR TOT'S SQUAD

The Tab program originally began in 1987 by a group of 30 families from VFW Post #295 in South St. Paul, Minnesota. They collected the tabs, cashed them in and presented a $120.00 check to the Ronald McDonald House. The money is used to assist families who have children with cancer

1,280 tabs = 1 pound = $.60
12,800 tabs = 10 pounds = $6.00
128,000 tabs = 100 pounds = $60.00
1,280,000 tabs = 1,000 pounds = $600.00

(*Approximate value; actual value changes on a daily basis.)

PRESENTATION BOXES SQUAD

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....

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.


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The Waben

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TOY PROGRAM SQUAD

The Holiday Toy Program began in 1988. Today the VVGSQ organizes and runs the Toy Program each year. The program benefits all the children who come to visit family at San Quentin during the Holiday Season.

The Warden has authorized the VVGSQ to sponsor this program and several years ago the group purchased the "Santa" suit, beard and wig that is used for an appearance of Santa to the children each year in the visiting room. (Note: Due to current prison guidelines, the appearance of Santa in the visiting room was discontinued in 2010.)

December 2016 will be the 28th year the program has been giving away toys.