In 1918 Inmates at Eastern State Penitentiary Crowdfunded an Ambulance for the Red Cross

Here’s some philanthropic history for you.

During World War I, the inmates at Eastern State Penitentiary joined together and were able to finance an entire ambulance for the Red Cross in just three hours — 88 years before the term “crowdfunding” was coined. 

And it wasn’t any small sum back then. The average inmate at this time only made eight dollars a month. According to an inmate newspaper, The Umpire, they raised $1,600, with women incarcerated at that time notably donating an average of five dollars each, the equivalent of $77 today.

Instances of inmate altruism don’t end there. Around the same time period, inmates also donated to a Christmas fund for the children of their fellow inmates in order to provide children of inmates with a Christmas gift, including candy and fruit, a toy, and other gifts.

Following in this tradition, Eastern State Penitentiary is now partnering with Philadelphia FIGHT‘s Institute for Community Justice to collect gifts, such as new books and unopened toys, for local children with incarcerated parents.

Director of Public Programming Sean Kelley said, “in the past, we’ve collected books for inmates, for people who are actually in prison, and there’s an organization here in Philadelphia called Books Through Bars that does a great job of supplying books for inmates.”

Kelley added that they decided to try something new and the idea of collecting toys for children of incarcerated people arose from community meeting about mass incarceration held with the Mural Arts Program.

The toy and book drive at Eastern State Penitentiary will run through January 1. Toys can be dropped off during public hours.

Read more about the history of giving at Eastern State Penitentiary (including a letter from one of the beneficiaries of gifts in the 1900s) and find information on their current toy drive here.