Fellowship Holds Angel Tree Day To Help Children Of Prisoners
REDFORD (WWJ) - Prison Fellowship staff and volunteers are hosting Angel Tree Day on Friday, Nov. 9, to raise awareness and recruit churches to help children of incarcerated parents, especially since Christmas is rapidly approaching.
During the summer, Angel Tree provides applications to inmates at Michigan Correctional facilities to give them the opportunity to sign up their children to receive Christmas gifts, and suggest specific items their children would enjoy.
Members of churches around the state register for Angel Tree, purchase gifts and present them to the children on behalf of the incarcerated parent. Each gift contains a special message from the parent.
"With Angel Tree, we want to reestablish that link that's often broken. There are so many children in America that have an incarcerated parent, there's 1.7 million actually. We hope that through Angel Tree, we can break the cycle of crime so that these children don't make those same decisions and follow in the patterns of their parent," said Mary Engle, Regional Executive Director for Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree.
On Angle Tree Day, the community is invited to come and speak to Angel Tree families, volunteers and staff. Church representatives can come to pick up registration forms, make donations and find out more about Angel Tree. The event will occur at Aldersgate United Methodist Church, located at 10000 Beech Daly Road in Redford, from 5 until 8 p.m. on Nov. 9.
For more information about Angel Tree Day or to register your church, visit www.AngelTree.org.
