As I sit down to write this, I’m asking myself: How are we already halfway through December? As you finish wrapping those last few presents, I hope you’ll join Prison Fellowship to pray for the Angel Tree families we serve. And I hope you’ll be inspired by the story I just heard from my friend Pastor Quovadis Marshall.
A Prison Fellowship board member and former Angel Tree dad himself, Pastor Q leads Hope City Church—an Iowa church that has done ministry through Angel Tree Christmas for a long time. This year, they connected for the first time with a young single mom I’ll call Amanda. She was touched to learn that her kids would receive Angel Tree gifts delivered by the church. Then, she was amazed to find out who signed them up for the program: her dad.
Amanda’s dad has been incarcerated for 30 years, and she hasn’t seen him in just as long. Through Angel Tree, he found a way to show love to his grandchildren that he’s never even met. It made Amanda feel loved, too, and she is now on a journey to reconnecting and reconciling with her father.
It turns out that Amanda had briefly intersected with Hope City Church in the past, through their food pantry. Now, through Angel Tree, the church has deepened their connection with her family. She’s even started attending Sunday morning worship services.
Recently, Amanda came up to Pastor Q after the service to say, “Thank you so much for Angel Tree. Thank you for taking care of my family.”
Our heart’s desire is that every child is matched to a local church. But did you also know we have thousands of children hoping to be served throughvirtual Angel Tree? These are children who live in areas where there aren’t enough Angel Tree churches—but they still need gifts from their mom or dad behind bars. This year, we have more children waiting than ever—and each one deserves to know they are remembered by their parent and by God. Consider giving the gift of connection through virtual Angel Tree.
Wishing you and yours a merry Christmas and blessed New Year!
Serving Him with you,
HEATHER RICE-MINUS President and CEO
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