Prison Fellowship is adding a new feature to its Angel Tree program to provide Christmas gifts to children of prison inmates this year.
Prison Fellowship, founded by the late Chuck Colson, has formed a partnership with Tyndale Publishers for a new You Are Loved Bible for the children of inmates. Erika Harold, Miss America 2003, is helping promote the project.
"There are about 1.7 million young people who have a parent who is in prison, and they suffer from all sorts of shame and stigma," she says. "We wanted to do something special for them at Christmas."
The You Are Loved Bibles are designed especially for the intended reader.
"Well, they have certain content that's specific for these children that's going to speak to the concerns that they face at having a parent in prison," Harold explains. "Especially if you have a parent in prison, it's sort of hard to be able to really understand God's love when you really don't have the love of a parent sometimes, and so this Bible is designed to speak to that and to let them know that there's a God in Heaven who has a plan for their life and loves them deeply."
People can participate by finding a participating Christian bookstore on the Angel Tree website and then adding as little as $5 to their purchase to cover the cost of the Bible or by donating online.