Inmate Michael Bryant begins turning a shutter from blue to red while Timothy O’Neill hoists an old bookcase into the dumpster
CHATHAM – A supervised crew of inmates dispatched by Barnstable County Sheriff Jim Cummings this week spent a whirlwind day at the Chatham Drama Guild on Crowell Road. By the time they’d left, shrubs had been cut, leaves were raked, an overflowing dumpster of junk was filled, and walls and woodwork agreeably painted – inside and out.
That’s inmates Jason Frazier (left) and Eric Finnerty cutting and trimming some of the overgrowth where the drama guild fronts onto Crowell Road
“To get inmates to do all this in one day is a miracle for us,” enthused guild president Pam Banas, who also helped out. “Our non-profit has zero paid staff and that includes me. Getting people to volunteer is becoming increasingly difficult these days.”
Guild president Pam Banas may look “unpresidential” on the working end of a broomstick, but he notes volunteers aren’t stepping forward like they used to. So, she sweeps.
Banas is a nurse practitioner in her “day world” job, but on this assignment she was working alongside a second guild volunteer and joined by Deputy Sheriff Blaise Cabral, the inmate crew chief, and the four inmates he was supervising.
Even the weather cooperated on what was a near windless day with temperatures nudging into the 60s. The next day’s late October forecast was closer to the norm, calling for rain, followed by more rain, followed by even more rain. No day to be doing fall cleanups.
Banas was equally grateful for a similar inmate cleanup, this one accomplished two years ago this fall.
Informed of Banas’s kind words, Sheriff Jim Cummings returned serve. “After all, he observed, “the shows must go on.” He was referring to the topnotch community theatre presentations the guild is locally known for.
Media release furnished by Barnstable Sheriff’s Office
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