LOUISIANA (KTAL/KMSS) — Angel Tree focuses on connecting incarcerated parents with their children, ensuring they're not alone during the holiday season.
"One in every 49th child [in America] has a parent that's actually been incarcerated," says the Prison Ministry Manager for Prison Fellowship for Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, Darla Lindsey-Washington, Ph.D.
The Prison Fellowship Angel Tree program is one of the largest organizations created to help prisoners restore their lives and improve public safety, says Dr. Lindsey-Washington.
Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections estimated 94,000 children in Louisiana have incarcerated parents.
"We believe that the incarcerated parent can impact their children's lives behind bars and that being a parent does not necessarily stop once they are behind the gates, and we most definitely want to try to encourage that family structure to keep from following that systemic path of being behind the bars themselves," states Dr. Lindsey-Washington.
Dr. Lindsey-Washington notes the Angel Tree program helps disrupt the cycle of incarceration by addressing the underlying causes of crime, ensuring they maintain their support system as they reintegrate back into society.
"Incarceration cannot be Louisiana's primary strategy for improving public safety," stated Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections Secretary James Le Blanc on Criminal Justice in Louisiana.
"Children are connecting with the churches. They're actually getting involved with coming to pick up the gifts, or the churches are actually having a Christmas party," says Dr. Lindsey-Washington.
She says there are more than 200 churches and organizations in Louisiana are helping strengthen relationships between incarcerated parents and their children; four are located in Caddo Parish.
The chaplains at the local prisons facilitate the incarcerated parents, she states the Angel Tree program is well-known within the prison system due to its positive impact.
The Prison Fellows are then assigned to the incarcerated and their family depending on their zip code.
Dr. Lindsey-Washington is the Angel Tree coordinator for her church and did not realize the magnitude the program would have on their congregation.
"Most of them [volunteers] have been impacted by crimes or incarceration; either they were incarcerated or they had a parent that was incarcerated or someone in their family. This is so important to them to be able to give back and share love.
"I had one lady tell me, 'I never want a child to go through what I went through at Christmas', and that is to feel like that because of a poor decision of your parent that you are suffering so she really dug deep into her pocket to give more than one gift and so we're so grateful about that," shares Dr. Lindsey-Washington.
She says her experience serving as the Prison Fellowship Coordinator for her church has been priceless and emphasizes that the program is a lot bigger than the individual.
"I was thinking about a particular scripture because its so important that we connect everything with the greater good. And that's Proverbs 19:17 and it basically states 'Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord. And he will reward them for what they have done,' sermonizes Dr. Lindsey-Washington.
Angel Tree Christmas™ has other programs, including Angel Tree Camping® - Christ-centered summer camp - and Angel Tree Sports Camp™ - where children learn Gospel lessons and advice from athletes and coaches.
"We had nearly 5,000 children to attend the summer camps. And when the children actually participate in the Christmas Angel Tree program it provides them with a scholarship to attend the summer camp," affirms Dr. Lindsey-Washington.
