A Seattle Times article recounts the story of 12-year-old Orlando, a boy whose father fled from the law and whose mother was committed to a mental hospital. Not yet a teenager, Orlando was left in charge of seven siblings, including a set of triplets still in diapers. He begged the milkman for bottles of fresh milk. He washed out the babies’ diapers with a garden hose, dried them out, and reused them. He did his best, but he was overwhelmed, and the babies were sick. A few weeks later, a neighbor called the police, and the children were split up among relatives and foster care.
Orlando lost track of the triplets, who were adopted and had their names changed. He spent the next several decades trying to track them down, a nearly superhuman feat he completed just before he died. In late 2011 Orlando’s story was shared with prisoners at Monroe Prison in Washington state. Prisoner after prisoner stood up to tell similar stories of separation and loss, along with hopes of one day being reunited and reconciled with those they loved.
When you support Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program, you help re-connect families – like Orlando’s – torn apart by incarceration. But all ministry to prisoners helps save families from the vicious circle of estrangement. When prisoners’ hearts are reformed, they return to society and don’t commit more crimes and create more victims. They don’t abandon their loved ones. Families stay together. Children have a future.
When you invest your time, prayer, and financial gifts in ministry to prisoners and their families, you’re not just helping write stories of redemption – you’re also helping to make sure that tragic situations like Orlando’s never happen in the first place. Learn what a difference you can make today at www.prisonfellowship.org.