During the holidays, most eight-year-olds are deciding what and how many presents to ask for.
But around Christmastime the year Serena Freitas, of Standish, was eight, she was asking what she could do to help the female inmates at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham.
“I asked my mom when people in prison get to go home,” she said in a recent interview. “I was upset when I learned they couldn’t and that they couldn’t see their kids.”
That year Freitas, who’s now a 14-year-old freshman at Bonny Eagle High School, decided to reach out to these women by giving them gifts.
With help from her family, she created her first gift bags by decorating paper bags with tissue paper and pictures and filling them with presents, including stationary, books, calendars, soaps, bookmarks and handmade Christmas cards. Then, she and her parents personally delivered the 44 bags to the prison.
But Freitas didn’t quit after one year. She has been assembling and giving these bags every Christmas since, saving her money all year to purchase the supplies. And, as the years go by, the number of bags has gone up. Last Christmas she gave away 77 of them.
Beyond the material items Freitas incorporates in her bags is something more meaningful – more personal. She includes her address in each, with a promise that she or her mother will answer anyone who writes.
Currently, 30 women prisoners correspond with her mother on a regular basis and Freitas, herself, writes about three or four of the women every week.
Recently, Freitas was notified that, out of the 57 Maine teens nominated, she is one of seven recipients of a Teens Who Care award through WCSH 6.
On April 24, Freitas and the other recipients will be honored for their accomplishments at the Portland Museum of Art where they will each receive a $1,000 scholarship from Nelnet SuperLoan. On May 27 the station will air a 30-minute program highlighting each teen’s contributions.
Freitas was nominated for the award by Hope LeBlanc, the nurse practitioner at the Women’s Center of the Maine Correctional Center.
LeBlanc has witnessed firsthand the pleasure Freitas’ gift bags have given the inmates. She says these women understand the effort Freitas has gone to in making these bags.
“The real gift is the kindness – the true belief that Serena holds that these women are deserving and that they’re good,” LeBlanc said. “The women feel that and they know she loves them.”
A lot of the prisoners now make gifts for Freitas. LeBlanc believes the act of making these gifts – like crocheted stuffed animals and embroidered sweatshirts – teaches the women to “give back” in a healthy way that helps prepare them to fit back into society.
Freitas is already looking to next Christmas. And so is her youth group leader at Galilee Baptist Church. The church has provided many of the books for Freitas’ bags. But this year, Freitas says, her youth group leader wants to get the teens more involved.
If so, the project Freitas started six years ago could grow even larger. But either way, Freitas plans to continue – continue making the bags, continue writing letters and continue making a difference in the lives of others.
Bonny Eagle High School freshman Serena Freitas received a Teens Who Care Award, sponsored by WCSH Channel 6. She was nominated for her work supporting female inmates at the Windham Correctional Facility.Send questions/comments to the editors.
