Children in Las Vegas celebrated Christmas early this past weekend. Grapevine Fellowship Church hosted an Angel Tree® Christmas party for one hundred and thirty local children with incarcerated parents. They provided meals for the children, as well as gifts.
The holiday season is a time when Americans reflect on our blessings. We spend time with our families and loved ones. Houses are decorated, presents wait under the tree, and tables are laden with delicious holiday food.
But for many, the holidays are not a joyous occasion.
For the bulk of the past 10 years, I’ve been on one side of Angel Tree®. As a writer for Prison Fellowship® on a national level, I get to hear and write about all of the amazing things that happen during December and beyond, as children and incarcerated parents around the country reconnect through gifts purchased and delivered by volunteers.
Happy Thanksgiving from Prison Fellowship®! We’ve pulled one of our favorite stories out of the archives for you today. This is the story of Leah. Around Thanksgiving last year, Leah’s father Joey was released from prison. Check out what she did out of thankfulness for the love Angel Tree® volunteers showed her during her dad’s incarceration
Can a Christmas gift help prevent crime?
Lieutenant Jim Quattrone, a sheriff’s deputy with 29 years of experience, believes it just might.
Jim has served communities in Chautauqua County, New York, on the coast of Lake Erie, for his entire career in uniform.
For Throwback Thursday, we revisit the ABC News' "Nightline" 2015 story on Forgiven Ministry's "One Day with God" program. Forgiven Ministry is a ministry partner with Prison Fellowship®, who organized the program at E.C. Brooks Correctional Facility in Michigan in 2015.
A version of the following article originally aired as a BreakPoint commentary, and is reproduced here with permission.
It was back in the 1990s when I was practically a kid writer here at BreakPoint that I first heard about Prison Fellowship’s amazing Angel Tree program.
If the changing leaves and cooler temperatures across much of the country are any indication, winter is coming. Soon, thoughts will turn to the holidays and the joys that come with having friends and families together for Christmastime.
But for 2.7 million children with at least one parent behind bars, the reality is quite different.