Every year, Prison Fellowship assists churches in ministering to the families of incarcerated parents through its Angel Tree program. Angel Tree is a ministry that reaches out to the children of inmates and their families with the love of Christ, offering churches an opportunity to share Christ’s love by serving the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the families of prisoners.
During the Christmas season, local church volunteers purchase and deliver gifts and the Gospel to children in the name of their parent behind bars. Thousands of families are served every year by church members who generously give of their time and resources.
Unfortunately, the opportunities to minister through Angel Tree often exceed the number of volunteers in certain areas. Below are the 25 counties in the country with the largest number of children signed-up for the Angel Tree program that are not yet assigned to a church (as of 11/1/11):
County (State) | Unassigned Children |
Los Angeles (CA) | 2,697 |
Cook (IL) | 1,240 |
Orange (FL) | 911 |
Wayne (MI) | 714 |
Hidalgo (TX) | 644 |
Tulare (CA) | 610 |
Pima (AZ) | 603 |
Hillsborough (FL) | 599 |
Cameron (TX) | 587 |
San Diego (CA) | 586 |
Shelby (TN) | 574 |
Winnebago (IL) | 567 |
Lee (FL) | 536 |
Palm Beach (FL) | 527 |
Salt Lake (UT) | 504 |
Miami-Dade (FL) | 493 |
Kern (CA) | 473 |
Duval (FL) | 472 |
Webb (TX) | 454 |
Macon (IL) | 445 |
Champaign (IL) | 439 |
Saginaw (MI) | 435 |
Clark (NV) | 430 |
Maricopa (AZ) | 430 |
Volusia (FL) | 421 |
To learn more about the Angel Tree program, and how you and your church can get involved, please visit https://www.angeltree.org/christmas.