wfn.org | Angel Tree program provides gifts to prisoners' kids

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Dec. 23, 2003  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
7 E-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org 7 ALL{603}

NOTE: A UMTV report is also available.

By Kim Riemland*

SHELBY, N.C. (UMNS) - Stanley Petty would love to have the holiday stress so
many people complain about, like navigating crowded malls in search of the
right gift, or staying up late to bake treats and wrap presents. 

But Petty will spend another Christmas in prison, another year locked up for
poor choices that he regrets. 

"I got twisted up and always have been in drugs," he said. "I've chased an
easy life, and it's cost me dearly."

He is doing time at Cleveland Correctional Center, a medium-security prison
in Shelby, N.C., for a felony drug conviction; he isn't due for release until
2008.

Petty isn't the only one paying the price for his crimes. His 10-year-old son
and 14-year- old daughter will spend another Christmas without their dad.

"I've neglected them, basically all of their life," Petty said. "I've been in
and out of the penitentiary." 

Church members all over the country are reaching out to the children of
inmates through a program called Angel Tree Christmas, offered by Prison
Fellowship Ministries.

The youth group at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Shelby is
participating in the program this year. Members collected the wish lists of
children of area inmates. They did all the shopping and wrapping, and will
deliver gifts on behalf of the imprisoned parent. 

"Myself, personally, I couldn't imagine being away from my parents during
Christmas time," said Kelsey Wagner, 15. " I imagine it's hard, especially
for little kids."  

Since it began in 1982, Angel Tree Christmas has touched an estimated 6
million children's lives through the participation of thousands of churches,
according to Prison Fellowship Ministries, an organization founded in 1976 by
Chuck Colson. Colson, a former aide to President Richard Nixon, served seven
months in prison in the mid-1970s for an obstruction of justice conviction
related to the Watergate scandal.

Prison Fellowship estimates that about 2 million U.S. children have at least
one parent behind bars. Statistics show children with a parent in prison are
more likely to be incarcerated themselves someday.

"If we don't teach them the love of God now, when they are children, we'll be
taking care of them while they're troubled adults," said the Rev. Pat
Tiffany, pastor of Aldersgate United Methodist Church. 

"Without this Angel Tree, there is nothing I could give them in my present
situation," Petty said.

"It's being a father that I can't be right now," said fellow inmate Nathan
Crawford, who is also serving time for drug-related crimes. Without the Angel
Tree program, his two girls probably wouldn't receive gifts, he said.

"They love it," Crawford said of the program. "They've been asking about it
since before Thanksgiving."

"This is exactly what Jesus was talking about when he told us to care for the
widows and the orphans," Tiffany said. "These are the orphans of our time." 

Petty faces several more Christmases away from his daughter and son. He said
he's glad for the Angel Tree program, which enables him to show his kids that
he loves them.

"I think this is a positive thing that society has allowed me to do in order
to help my family, and I'm grateful for it."

# # #

*Riemland is a UMNS correspondent based in Seattle. Nancye Willis at United
Methodist Communications contributed to this report.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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