Dear John,

I am excited to share with you a hard-won celebration for justice that occurred recently. After more than two years of work with a wide variety of business, faith-based, civil rights, and conservative organizations, our advocacy team led the entire Prison Fellowship team in applauding the recent actions of the U.S. Congress to restore access to Pell Grants for incarcerated students.

Access to Pell Grants has been denied to aspiring incarcerated students for a quarter century. This reform opens a new window of hope that will pay dividends in the form of safer communities inside and outside corrections facilities for decades to come.

Speaking of hope, we continue to praise God for the stories of hope and reconciliation that are coming in from across the country from families that were served through our Angel Tree program this Christmas. One mother shared that when her kids saw the gift with a tag that read “Merry Christmas! Your Daddy loves you more than INFINITY!” they screamed, "IT’S FROM DADDY!!!" Such is the joy of children who are reminded that their incarcerated parents love them!

And we received the following message from Fernando, who is in prison in Nebraska:

We praise God daily for the lives, families, and communities being changed through the work He has given us to do!

Your continued support of Prison Fellowship and our work to serve those affected by crime and incarceration makes each of these celebrations of hope possible. Because of that, we also thank God for you, and we look forward to sharing even more stories of hope with you in the coming year.

On behalf of all those we serve, thank you! If we can be praying for you or your family, we would be honored to do so. Serving Him,