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it's been said if you want to help yourself, you must first be willing to help someone else. And that's exactly what a group of inmates here at Vacaville are doing. They're called the volunteers of Vacaville. And for the past 14 years they've been serving the needs

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of blind and visually handicapped people outside the prison walls. Right now there are 38 men whose voices are known as old friends to 150 high school and college students throughout the country. One girl in New York has been served by the project for nine years and

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just received her PhD. One of the reasons for her achievement is inmates like George could kinda, who's been a volunteer for only five months but manages to donate close to 100 hours a week. In addition to recording the volunteers, transcribe books in braille and large sized

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print for public agencies. They also run an equipment repair shop, Bob gets is serving a life sentence for first degree murder. He is the project coordinator and particularly proud that of the 650 volunteers of Vacaville that have been paroled. Less than 1% ever returned to prison.

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The type of guy that comes first of all to volunteer. Yes. Is oriented toward toward work. And then it comes down to the fact that, you know, like myself, as I told you earlier. Um, I have never done anything for, for anybody in my life until

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I came here and started reading for the blind And when when I got into it and and began to realize that I was doing some good, I really had a pride and and some self esteem. It carries over into the outside it. Uh, it uh, it

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works out so that when a man goes out, uh, he's been doing something useful. He doesn't feel like he's wasted these years that he's been in here. He goes out. And he said, well, he's not ashamed of what he's done in here And contains about three

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times. This is the emblem for the Volunteers of Vacaville. It's kind of ironic. It doesn't show up too well for television. The motto is fiat lux let there be light. It may not be true for television, but it certainly is for the volunteers and the people

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they help Lin Joyner, Channel five, Eyewitness News at Vacaville.