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GOING BEYOND CHRISTMAS
St. Luke Community United Methodist Church’s Angel Tree ministry became dramatically more effective once they started year-round ministry
Frances Estelle approached the large tree in the church lobby with a heavy heart. The end of 2012 was approaching, and, along with many other members of St. Luke Community United Methodist Church, Frances was preparing to select a paper angel ornament—representing a local child with a mom or dad in prison—from one of the branches. Participating in Angel Tree® Christmas by buying gifts for these children was a joyful annual tradition for this Dallas congregation. For Frances, however, the 2012 holiday season was a somber one. Her mother had died a few years prior, and she was still emerging from a season of mourning.
“I was just starting to come out of my depression,” Frances recalls.
When she finally plucked a paper angel from the tree and began to read the description on the label, Frances was overwhelmed with emotion. The tag described two young twin girls whose mother had recently been incarcerated.
“That touched me so much,” Frances says. “I had a very close and personal relationship with my mother, and I could not imagine living and growing up without her.”
FROM HEARTBREAK TO HELPING
Frances took several days to find what she hoped was just the right gift for the girls and then brought it to St. Luke to be wrapped and distributed at the church’s annual Angel Tree Christmas party. Several weeks later, Frances attended the celebration but didn’t see the twins. At the end of the event, Frances discovered that the gift she bought was uncollected because the girls didn’t show up.
“Their gift was left behind, and I was so heartbroken,” says Frances. “And so I started asking a lot of questions to the people who coordinated the event.”
Frances soon learned that there was much more involved with coordinating Angel Tree Christmas than simply buying gifts. Volunteers were responsible for planning events, communicating with families, sending reminders, and coordinating logistics—including delivering gifts to families who miss the party. As a project manager for a major airline, Frances recognized that her skills could be helpful in these efforts, and she signed up as an Angel Tree volunteer.
Several months later, Prison Fellowship® offered to help St. Luke expand their Angel Tree activity from Christmas to year-round ministry to families. The leaders of the church’s outreach team quickly identified Frances as the ideal person to coordinate this new venture.
“They were looking for someone to lead Angel Tree,” Frances recalls. “And I guess my passion was just showing for these children.”
TAKING ANGEL TREE BEYOND CHRISTMAS
Since 2004, St. Luke Community United Methodist Church has been partnering with Prison Fellowship Angel Tree to share God’s love with kids who have a parent in prison. Until 2013, this ministry was mainly limited to providing Christmas gifts to children on behalf of their incarcerated moms and dads. When the church began year-round Angel Tree ministry, Frances and fellow leaders started to build deeper relationships with the families they served.
The Angel Tree team at St. Luke began regularly checking in with the families they met at Christmas and then decided to host monthly dinners at the church.
“We would prepare meals together,” recalls Frances. “We sat down and had dinner together at the table, and we got to know each other.”
The church’s year-round Angel Tree ministry soon expanded to include providing homework assistance and school supplies for children during the school year and sponsoring kids to go to camp in the summer. Sometimes, families were given help with rent, utilities, or assistance to help them travel to see loved ones locked up in distant prison facilities. The team from St. Luke also helped support an Angel Tree sports camp held at the Dallas Cowboys’ training facility, where children were given mentorship, football coaching, a new pair of sneakers, and a Bible.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
Linda White, the community services coordinator at St. Luke, has witnessed the impact these activities have on kids who have a parent behind bars.
“What I have learned through my involvement with Angel Tree is that just a little help can make a big difference in a child’s life,” she says.
During nearly two decades of Angel Tree ministry, the team from St. Luke Community UMC has built strong relationships with families who have incarcerated loved ones. Volunteers have helped connect families with housing, legal help, and food assistance—but often, the most valuable thing they provide is friendship.
“Sometimes you're on the phone, you're crying with them, you're laughing with them,” says Frances. “We're invited to birthday parties, we're invited to graduations … we keep in touch with them year over year.”
"What I have learned through my involvement with Angel Tree is that just a little help can make a big difference in a child’s life."
—Linda White
FILLING THE VOID
Jasmine Edmun is one of the people who has been blessed by the Angel Tree ministry at St. Luke Community UMC—first as a child, then as a parent.
“My mom did 10 years [in prison], and my son's father did about nine years,” she says. “I've been dealing with the Angel Tree [team] at St. Luke for the span of 15 years. They have been really great, all the way up to when the children turned 18. [They brought] great, awesome gifts. [They] never missed a beat, called throughout the year…Whenever they had something going on at church, they would invite us. [They’re] just a tremendous, awesome organization.”
Dr. Sharon Larkin, pastor of congregational care at St. Luke Community UMC, sees Angel Tree as a vital part of the church’s call to proclaim the Gospel.
“One way that we proclaim the Gospel is through our love for one another,” she says. “Angel Tree allows us to love those who may not feel loved, and in doing so, we have transformed their lives in such a way that many of them have become disciples of Jesus Christ.”
Pastor Larkin also sees this ministry as a way to provide emotional support for households affected by incarceration.
“When a loved one is missing, for any reason, the love and affection of that family member is missing also, which creates a void in that family’s life. The biggest blessing in participating in Angel Tree is that we get to fill that void,” she says.
THE SECOND CARNATION
Frances has developed a strong connection with the many of the Angel Tree families she has served over the years. A number of the children have come to see her as a beloved aunt, and she has seen several grow into adulthood. She particularly treasures the memory of one of the first boys St. Luke sponsored to attend Angel Tree summer camp. Frances was invited to attend his junior high graduation ceremony, where she sat beside his family.
“Each child, when they went across the stage, they were handed two carnations, two different colors,” Frances recalls.
As the young graduates walked down the aisle of the school auditorium, they distributed these flowers to their parents or grandparents as a symbol of their love and appreciation. When the boy who invited Frances took his turn, he did something unexpected.
“He walked to the row where we were all sitting, and he handed one to his mother and hugged her, and then he passed his sister and his dad, and he handed me a carnation,” she remembers.
Frances didn’t feel she deserved the recognition and began protesting, but the family quickly affirmed her.
“His father turned me and said, ‘We know that he wants to give it to you, and we want you to have it.’”
Thanks to Angel Tree, Frances—who was willing to serve even while grieving—learned that acquaintances sometimes become friends—and then family.
Thanks to Angel Tree, Frances learned that acquaintances sometimes become friends—and then family.
