The cost of 2 Venti Latte's at your favorite coffee shop is all we need.
We are launching a 96-Hour Social Media-Thon and ask that you Like, Share, Re-Tweet, Digg, Stumble this podcast to the people in your social media circle
Our friends at Project Angel Tree have been working hard to finish up the 2010 fundraising campaign to help bring Christmas gifts to children whose moms or dads are in prison.
They have asked us at KNUS and KRKS to reach out to our community to push it across the line.
We are SO CLOSE!
We are looking for only 200 people to donate $57 or 800 people to donate $11.44
What’s the purpose of this promotion? To raise money to enable Prison Fellowship to partner with local churches to provide Christmas presents and the love of Jesus to the children of prisoners.
What does it cost to do that? The cost to help a church provide Angel Tree for one child is only $11.44! - $57 will help a church reach 5 kids - $114 will help a church reach 10 kids - $171 will help a church reach 15 kids
How will the money be collected?
CLICK HERE TO DONATE!
You are also encouraged to call 1-888-ANGEL-05 (888-264-3505). A Prison Fellowship operator will take their gift via credit card, or send them an envelope so they can mail a check for their gift amount.
Is there a thank-you gift for donors? Yes, for gifts of $57 or more, the listener will receive the collectible 2010 Angel Tree Christmas ornament. It’s a gold-toned metal ornament specially crafted for supporters of Angel Tree. It comes with a red ribbon so it can be used to adorn the listener’s Christmas tree for years to come.
About Angel Tree - Angel Tree was founded by Mary Kay Beard, an ex-prisoner who served 6 years in prison, and watched incarcerated mothers scramble at Christmas time to find a way to get a gift of any kind to their children.
- In Angel Tree’s first year, Prison Fellowship volunteers distributed Christmas presents to 556 Alabama children.
- Since 1982, Angel Tree has been partnering with local churches and other organizations to provide Christmas gifts given to children in the name of their incarcerated parent. In 2009, 375,000 children were able to receive a gift and a message from their mom or dad in prison.
- Each year, more than 100,000 volunteers from thousands of churches help brighten Christmas for children who are having a hard time while their parents are in prison.
- Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree is the only nationwide, year-round effort that specifically reaches out to nearly 400,000 children in the United States whose parent or parents are incarcerated.
- Each child receives one toy or recreational item and one clothing item (about $15-20 per gift). Gift wishes are written on paper angels and hung on Christmas trees placed in participating churches.
- Approximately 32 percent of all children of incarcerated parents in the United States annually receive gifts through Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program.
- Angel Tree is active in all 50 states and in thousands of cities and communities across the country.
CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT ANGEL TREE'S FINAL STRETCH
By the numbers: Facts about children of prisoners - There are more than 1.7 million children whose fathers or mothers are incarcerated.
- 10 million young people nationwide have had a mother or father behind bars at some point in their lifetimes (U.S. News & World Report, April 2002).
- In 1999, a majority of the children with imprisoned parents (58 percent) were younger than 10 years old, and 52 percent of children were present when their mom or dad was arrested.
- A majority of both fathers (57 percent) and mothers (54 percent) reported never having had a personal visit with their children since going to state prison.
- More than 60 percent of the parents in state prisons reported being confined more than 100 miles from their last place of residence.
ANGEL TREE: DETAILED BACKGROUND INFORMATION
What is Angel Tree? Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree is the only nationwide, year-round effort that specifically reaches out to the estimated 1.7 million children in the United States whose parent or parents are incarcerated. Angel Tree partners with local churches to provide Christmas gifts on behalf of their incarcerated parent as well as additional opportunities to build family reconciliation including camping and mentoring.
By mobilizing churches and organizations throughout the United States, Angel Tree works to provide prisoners’ children with Christmas gifts and to encourage adults’ involvement in the children’s lives year-round through practical, emotional, and spiritual support. This begins simply by brightening Christmas for the children of prisoners.
What is Angel Tree about? Angel Tree is about bringing the love of Christ year-round to prisoners’ kids across America. Thousands of families from churches across the country reach out to Angel Tree children each Christmas and seek to continue reaching out to these children and their parents all year long. And thousands of families are teaching their children to care for and reach out to other children who may need an extra dose of love year-round through ongoing outreach.
Why Angel Tree? By every measure, prisoners’ children are the most severely at-risk children and youth in America. Some 10 million young people in the United States have had a mother, a father, or both behind prison walls (U.S. News & World Report, April 2002).
Chuck Colson, who founded Prison Fellowship in 1976 to bring the Gospel into prisons, says prisoners’ children “are often some of the saddest casualties of crime in our society . . . for them, Christmas can often be a lonely and empty day.”
Angel Tree is an important way to reach out to kids struggling to deal with the anger, hurt, and disappointment they feel over their parent’s incarceration.
Throughout the summer, inmates sign up their children to receive Christmas gifts given by volunteers on their behalf. Angel Tree volunteers then contact caregivers of the children to confirm their gift wishes. Each child receives one toy or recreational item and one clothing item (about $15-20 per gift). Gift wishes are written on paper angels and hung on Christmas trees placed in participating churches. These churches and volunteers purchase and wrap the requested items and either deliver the gifts in person or host a party where the gifts are distributed to the children and the Gospel is presented. Many families provide additional support.
Beyond Christmas, Angel Tree supports year-round initiatives for children of prisoners. Including mentoring, which helps provide mature Christian adult mentors for over 5,000 children with incarcerated parents. Volunteers help inmates sign up their children to receive Angel Tree gifts.
And throughout the summer, Christian camping offers the children an opportunity to experience new environments and form relationships with positive role models.
Where? Angel Tree is active in all 50 states and in countries worldwide. Throughout the nation, more than 8,500 churches have made it an annual tradition to reach out to this alarmingly large (and growing) segment of the population — children with parents in prison. To get involved, call 1-888-ANGEL-05 or visit www.angeltree.org.
We here at KRKS - Denver's Christian Station and News/Talk 710 KNUS thank you and wish you a very Merry Christmas and blessed holiday season
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