Circle of Hope

Art Bucher for the Prison Connections Team writing

Thanks to everyone who participated in Angel Tree Christmas gift-giving to children with a parent in prison this year.  Here’s how a few of the gift deliveries went:

When I first telephoned Le, she sounded suspicious. There was a language barrier and I could tell we weren’t quite getting through to each other.  I asked her to wait while I went across the street to my Vietnamese neighbor, who agreed to hold the phone and translate. He explained about the Angel Tree gifts to her in Vietnamese, and reassured her.  She finally said “OK,” and told us what her three kids really needed.  We didn’t say much to each other when the gifts were delivered last week, but she did say, “Thank you” and “Merry Christmas!”

Another story:  When Karen’s door opened to my friend Joe Ryan and me last Friday, she looked very surprised. When we showed her the gifts and told her they were for her two small children from their dad, she immediately clasped her hands over her face and burst into tears.  She kept saying “Thank you,” and then told us “I had surgery today.”  The children, a girl and a boy, smiled and said, “They’re from daddy!”

At another home, a teenage girl heard us at the door talking to her mom and saw us handing over the gifts.  Smiling and her eyes tearing, she rushed to the door and blurted out, “These are from my dad? How did he do that?!”  She also looked surprised, perhaps not expecting anything at all from her father this year.  I gave her a brief explanation; she still looked a little confused, but she said, “Thank you.”

Lastly:  I got a phone call last week from a woman in South Philly who had somehow missed getting on the Angel Tree list this year for her twins.  She had my number from a previous year and asked us for help.  I was able to tell her right there that Circle of Hope had people who wanted to do this for her and her twins.  She held my hands when I came to the door later in the week and she said, “They [the twins] are gonna be so excited.  Thank you.”

I wanted to pass on these thank yous to all of you.  These families were genuinely touched by our offering to show a little love this Christmas despite the very difficult and real barrier of prison walls. Together we were able to help a parent show their care for their children, and show our care as a church for the caregivers of these children.  All of this helps God to show his love for everyone.

Forty-five children in our region received Christmas presents that their incarcerated parents asked us to purchase and wrap on their behalf. Thanks again to all of you who purchased and wrapped gifts, and thanks if what you did was to give to the common fund this year which partially goes to make compassionate things like this happen.  I hope you also had a touch of joy this Christmas.

Art Bucher for the Prison Connections Team