Dear John,

Summer officially starts tomorrow, but here at Prison Fellowship we’ve been celebrating the season for weeks. After two years of COVID-19 shutdowns, Angel Tree summer camps are back open! We are hearing from so many families who are excited to have their kids learning about Jesus in the great outdoors.

Angel Tree camping is now in full swing, and we are thrilled to be able to offer children of incarcerated parents the chance to get away from their daily challenges, have fun, make new friends, and meet caring adult counselors like Jeremy Hart and his wife, Traci.

Jeremy knows firsthand how incarceration can strain relationships. When he went to prison in 2011 for fraud, he thought he had lost his family forever. But then he saw a flyer for Prison Fellowship Angel Tree and signed up his children. He discovered that Angel Tree would provide a personal message, the Gospel, and a Christmas gift in his name. Every year, Angel Tree volunteers from churches and organizations nationwide deliver these gifts to hundreds of thousands of children like Jeremy’s.

Now that he’s back home, Jeremy and Traci facilitate Prison Fellowship Angel Tree at their church so that other prisoners’ families can experience joy and connection. Their church also sends children of prisoners to attend Christian summer camp with scholarships from Prison Fellowship Angel Tree. They’ve found that camp is a great way for churches to embrace families beyond the Christmas season.

When we asked Jeremy what he’d say to a church that’s on the fence about getting involved in Angel Tree camping, he said:

“Churches may tend to be a little hesitant, because they think [prison ministry] is more of a margin ministry, or they say, ‘We don't really have that population to serve.’ But numbers show that they do. People affected by incarceration in their family might not be vocal about it. We want churches to know that the population is already there. I would encourage you to jump in, find two or three people that want to head up something like [Angel Tree] with you if God puts it on your heart.”

Churches can also get involved in serving families is through our Angel Tree sports camps, which show children of incarcerated parents how much they can overcome—on the field and in life. We recently held a basketball camp at First Baptist Church of Glenarden’s Family Life Center in Maryland. More than 100 kids and 36 volunteers from National Community Church, Passion City DC, and Citizen Heights joined us for a powerful day of encouragement.

The kids heard from Brandon Johnson, a former college basketball player with an amazing story of second chances. He shared with them the message of hope that we all have in Jesus. Fellowship of Christian Athletes provided all coaches for the event, including Jamion Christian, former head basketball coach for George Washington University.

Every child who attended received a pair of Nike shoes, a basketball, a Bible, and a Jesus Calling family devotional. There were cheers all around when more than 30 of the children who attended decided to give their lives to Christ. We also had 20 kids sign up for summer camp, and 34 caregivers signed up for local church support services. Now those are wins in my book!

Your prayers and faithful support make all of this ministry to families possible. There is celebration in heaven for each child and parent who comes to know the Lord, and you are a part of these joyful stories. Thank you for being a member of the Prison Fellowship family!

To God be the glory,