Remember for a moment what Christmas morning was like as a child (or consider what kind of Christmas morning you’re creating for your own children).

Many of us are fortunate to have warm memories — such as a fire crackling, cinnamon rolls baking, dad behind the video camera, siblings playfully teasing each other, and carefully wrapped presents waiting patiently under the tree to be transformed into a giant pile of crumpled paper and bows. Christmas morning comes with sweet anticipation and the assurance that you are loved.

Many others are not so fortunate. For 2.7 million children in the United States, with Christmas morning comes the painful reminder that a parent is not at home but in prison. Although these children have committed no crimes, they deeply experience the punishments of incarceration: social stigma, financial loss, hurt, worry, anger, and embarrassment. Yet they still love their parents — and long to be loved by their parents.

That’s where Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree Christmas program comes in. Started in 1982 by former bank robber and ex-con Mary Kay Beard, Angel Tree exists to ease some of the pain children of the incarcerated experience during the holidays by enabling parents in prison to give their children Christmas gifts.

Read the article “For Prisoners’ Children, Angel Tree is Their Santa” on thefederalist.com.