This year marks the 35th anniversary of the holiday season Chuck Colson spent behind bars. “Just hopelessness and despair,” he remembers of that Christmas in prison, not only for him, but also for all the men he had come to know in the months he spent incarcerated. “That desperation and hopelessness is why I wanted to start Prison Fellowship.”
“Hey, aren’t you that Angel Tree guy?”
The somewhat angry question came from a prison cell. The man who had abruptly posed the question looked exactly how an inmate housed in the segregation unit of a federal prison should look—a big brute of a man with a gruff, tattooed exterior that clearly broadcasted a single message: “Don’t mess with me.”
Prison Fellowship Founder Chuck Colson turned to look at the locked-up hulk. “Yes, I suppose that’s me,” he responded, and started toward the cell. Before he could even reach the bars that stood between them, however, all of the prisoner’s intimidation had completely dissipated. The large man crumpled into free-flowing tears and body-wracking sobs. Stunned, Chuck asked why he was crying.
“You took presents to my kids last year,” the prisoner explained. “That’s the first time I was ever able to get them anything.”
| Dear Prison Fellowship,
Last year was my first year using the Angel Tree program. My children’s mother said that my children were so happy to get gifts from their dad that their reaction caused her to cry. Reading that caused me to cry. Not tears of sorrow, but of joy. I’m not sure if I can relay my gratitude for your services but I want to ask God’s blessing on everyone who is a part of this and that He use you as a way to continue to bless others. Christ is the reason…
Respectfully, Logan |
Chuck immediately seized this opportunity of open-hearted and raw emotion. He evangelized to the inmate.
“So often, Angel Tree is strictly viewed as a ministry to children,” says Chuck. “But Angel Tree is a great opportunity to share the love of Christ with prisoners, too.”
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the holiday season Chuck Colson spent behind bars. “Just hopelessness and despair,” he remembers of that Christmas in prison, not only for him, but also for all the men he had come to know in the months he spent incarcerated. “That desperation and hopelessness is why I wanted to start Prison Fellowship.”
Prison Fellowship was founded one year later, and its Angel Tree program took form six years after that. While Angel Tree’s goal was to provide gifts and ministry to the children of prisoners, time and time again, the program touches the hearts of the incarcerated parents, too—something to which yet another Prison Fellowship executive can attest.
To Give and to Receive
Pat Nolan had served as a California state legislator for 15 years when he was indicted on corruption charges. He repeatedly insisted his innocence. The Federal Bureau of Investigation showed little mercy during its six-year inquisition, however, and the charges carried a hefty prison sentence. Confronted with the inevitable choice of either spending decades locked away from his family or a plea bargain of a lesser prison sentence, Pat opted to plead guilty to one count of corruption.
He would spend two Christmases behind bars. “Christmas is a very sad time in prison,” recalls Pat. “You are lonely all the time.”
| Dear Angel Tree,
I truly thank your project for caring and providing a true spirit of Christmas for all the incarcerated parents. This is truly a blessing for us to be able to give our babies a gift, while placing a smile on their faces. May God bless you all and forever keep you all in his mercy and protection.
Thank you for caring. Bobbie |
Cold weather often limits the activities of those incarcerated, so “boredom is added to the curse of loneliness,” Pat continues. “I can remember sitting on my bunk with rain streaking the windows, missing the warmth of our home and the joy of decorating the Christmas tree.”
Pat’s three children were under six years old when he went to prison. When the holidays approached, he was serving his time at a labor camp. He had no means to buy or even make presents for his kids. Frustrated and distraught, he knew the responsibility and financial burden of raising his children fell to his wife, as did providing them with any semblance of a “normal” and merry Christmas . . . or, at least, he thought it did.
Then, “one of the members of our Christian Fellowship [in-prison group] found some Angel Tree applications,” says Pat. “It was like found treasure!”
Pat quickly filled out and submitted the forms. A few weeks before Christmas, a couple from a local church showed up at Pat’s home. They read Luke’s Gospel account of Jesus’ birth to Pat’s family. They prayed with his wife and children. Finally, before leaving, they left the kids their gifts. “These are from your father,” they told them, “and from your Father in heaven.”
When the door closed behind the two volunteers, Pat’s oldest, Courtney, looked up at her mother and said, “I knew Daddy would remember.”
“She had never said a word about that worry,” Pat says, “or let on that her little heart was troubled with that, but it was only through the love of that couple in our neighborhood and all the Angel Tree volunteers that my children were reminded of my love for them and how much God loved them, too.”
| Dear Angel Tree,
Thanks. I know you aren’t looking for it, but I will soon be released and in a position to “pay you back” for the kindness you’ve given to us. I will be there for others as you’ve been there for us. I don’t know how yet, but I’ll find a way. Because, I could never thank you enough with words. Our Lord has saved me from myself. You are part of that saving. I just wanted you to know that.
Edward |
Like so many prisoners’ children every year, including the 362,166 boys and girls served last Christmas, Pat’s two daughters and small son were touched by the ministry of Angel Tree. However, Angel Tree also touched 205,484 prisoner-parents last year, connecting mothers and fathers to their children in a way they are unable to do on their own. The effects of that connection can have long-lasting results.
As is the case with many inmates, Angel Tree was Pat’s first experience with Prison Fellowship. When Pat was released from prison, he shortly assumed the position of Prison Fellowship vice-president, a role in which he heads Justice Fellowship®, the branch of the organization that advocates for reformation in the criminal justice system. The effect prison and Angel Tree had on Pat is a lifelong one. On other prisoners, the impact is eternal.
A Father Follows
Kevin Heard’s first experience with Angel Tree was disappointing. He had filled out the necessary forms for his boys, but their caretaker would not allow the delivery to take place. Nancy Schmucker, the Angel Tree volunteer in Kalamazoo, Michigan, who had attempted to arrange the delivery, wrote Kevin to break the bad news. “It was a disappointment for us not to be able to deliver these gifts from their daddy,” Nancy says, “but the door was closed to us.”
Kevin wrote back to Nancy to thank her for her efforts. When Nancy sent a second letter to Kevin, this time including evangelistic pamphlets, a pen-pal relationship emerged.
| Dear Angel Tree,
I would like to take this time to thank you for what you did for my children last year. They were happy to receive something from their Daddy. I wanted to do something for them and for their mother, knowing the stress of raisin’ two children on her own, with money tight. Thank you for the blessings you give us people incarcerated. You’re forever in my prayers.
Jacob |
During the next year, Nancy learned more about Kevin’s family, his loneliness, and how much he missed his boys. Kevin learned more about Jesus through encouraging letters and Christian tracts from Nancy. Also, Kevin’s boys moved in with their mother. When the seasons changed and Christmas came around once again, Kevin filled out the Angel Tree application a second time. He called the mother of his sons to tell her about Nancy and the upcoming delivery. “The boys were so excited that they were going to get presents from their father,” their mom said.
The teenage boys did receive gifts of much-needed new clothes. The tag read: “Daddy loves you.” After Christmas, Nancy and other Angel Tree volunteers continued to minister to Kevin’s family, providing food, clothing, and mentorship. The boys attended Wednesday night Bible studies and a Christian summer camp. All the while, Nancy continued to send letters to Kevin. Sometimes, the letters arrived to Kevin’s cell with pictures of his sons at various outings and church functions. “He was very thankful for what we were doing in the boys’ lives,” says Nancy, “and very encouraged to hear what the boys have been involved with.”
When the boys started sending letters and pictures to Kevin, too, telling them about their relationship with Jesus and the church, he felt compelled to enroll into in-prison Bible studies. In his next letter, Kevin wrote Nancy: I believe this is my year to become one with Christ. I know I’ll never be right until I give Him my life.
By Way of the Child
More than 2,000 years ago, a light shone through the darkness of the world. A star lit a manger, and an Infant was born. A gift was given that first Christmas, a Son. This Child would be the path to eternal salvation.
Now, every year, a children’s ministry is shining a light into the darkness of society’s dungeons. While hundreds of thousands of prisoners’ children receive gifts, hundreds of thousands of prisoners are also given a gift—the opportunity to discover that path, through the love they have for their children, to the Child born on Christmas morning and to eternal salvation.
Angel Tree does not just minister to children. In fact, by ministering to the children, Angel Tree extends its ministry to the parents, too, so that sons and daughters and mothers and fathers might all become children of God.
