Dear John,  

Some of the people most affected by incarceration are the precious sons and daughters of prisoners. The odds stacked against them can be grim. But there are also amazing stories of connection, hope, and triumph made possible through Angel Tree^®, a Prison Fellowship^® program, that gives parents behind bars a pathway to restored relationships with their children—children like Andriece.

One Christmas when Andriece was 13, her life changed forever. The snow was falling heavily, Christmas music played on the stereo, and the smell of turkey wafted through the air. And then her father—her hero—walked through the door. He held her close and handed her a Christmas gift.

But Andriece could tell something wasn’t quite right. After dinner, she rushed out into the snow and saw her father loading his things into a car—to begin serving a life sentence in prison.

Over the next decade, Andriece, devastated by feelings of abandonment, chose to have nothing to do with her father. He wrote to her from prison each week, but she threw the cards into the trash.

Angel Tree was all that could get through to her. As hard as Andriece tried to convince herself that her father didn’t matter to her anymore, she couldn’t ignore the Angel Tree gift she received each Christmas, sent to her with love on her father’s behalf by Prison Fellowship volunteers. Andriece held onto those gifts like they were priceless treasures. Holding onto them was a way of holding onto her dad.

Eventually, Andriece decided to extend forgiveness to her father and visit him in prison. During the visit, the hole in Andriece’s heart began filling up. The two reminisced about happier days and talked about their newfound shared faith in Jesus. Later, Andriece realized that she was finally going to have the Christmas she always ached for—one full of the hope of forgiveness and reconciliation only possible through Christ.

I never get tired of hearing Andriece’s amazing story—and feeling gratitude for the donors and volunteers who made such a difference in her life.

Did you know that you can be a critical part of another Angel Tree story—one that's yet to unfold? With a gift of $20, you can make it possible to provide a Christmas gift, a personal message of love, and the Gospel message to a little boy or girl with a parent in prison.

This is such an important opportunity to show these kids how much they matter! Would you prayerfully consider donating today to help give a child like Andriece a Christmas she’ll never forget? Please do everything you can to help make sure that no prisoner's child will be left out.