Holy Family’s Get On The Bus Project, collaborates with the Center for Restorative Justice Works to enable children to visit their parents incarcerated in state prisons, usually on a day close to either Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
Get On The Bus, founded by Sister Suzanne Jabro, CSJ, is an organization that brings children and their guardians/caregivers from throughout the state of California to visit their mothers and fathers in prison. An annual event, Holy Family sponsors one bus offering free transportation for the children and their caregivers to the prison, providing travel bags for the children, comfort care bags for the caregivers, a photo of each child with his or her parent, and meals for the day (breakfast, snacks on the bus, lunch at the prison, and dinner on the way home)— all at no cost to the children’s family. On the bus trip home, following a four-hour visit, each child receives a teddy bear with a letter from his or her parent as well as post-event counseling.
There are over 200,000 children in the state of California with a parent in prison. These children are usually cared for by relatives, often grandparents. Many caregivers are unable to make the drive due to distance or expense. Get On The Bus offers a priceless opportunity––a mother’s touch, a father’s hug, a family photo, a private conversation and a connection with hope and healing. More than 1,300 children participate in GOTB statewide.
GOTB is able to do all of this because of churches and organizations, like Holy Family, sponsor buses for the children in their area. In the past years, Holy Family has sponsored a bus to the Central California Women’s Facility , Valley State Prison for Women, both in Chowchilla, California Institute for Women in Corona and Central Valley Training Facility in Soledad.
Thank for your continued assistance with Get on the Bus! Get on the Bus is a great blessing to our community, and with your help and support it will also be the richest of blessings to those children who will be united with their parents.
Get on the Bus
Get on the Bus, Mothers’ Day
Get on the Bus, Fathers’ Day
Volunteer Opportunities:
- Home Visits
- Breakfast
- Counselor on the Bus
- Supplies
- Travel Bags
- Media
- Blankets
- Teddy Bears
- Stay Connected Bags
- Dinner
- Transportation
- Outreach for Volunteers
- Physician
- Notary Public
- RN/LVN
- Therapist
To volunteer or to donate to the Holy Family Get on the Bus Project or for questions or more information, please contact
Marlene Moore, Director of Life, Justice and Peace
mschimmoller@holyfamily.org