Last Christmas, at the suggestion of Mary Lown, many folk at Eden put Christmas cards up on the back notice-board instead of sending individual cards to their friends here. The money they would have spent on cards was kindly put towards the Angel Tree Project and £195 was raised.
Angel Tree is run by Prison Fellowship, a Christian charity working with prisoners. The object is to send presents to the children of people in prison, as if they came from the inmates themselves. So with every gift that we buy and send, we enclose a personal hand-written note from the parent. This year we were also able to include a little booklet for each child about the meaning of Christmas.
The Cambridge Prison Fellowship group sent presents for both Littlehey and Highpoint prisoners this year. There were 132 inmates who took part in the scheme and 408 children received a present, some from as far away as Jamaica, South Africa and Canada.
Prisoners are very thankful for this scheme which gives some hope and reconciliation in their broken lives. For example, we received the following messages:
I thank you for what you are doing for me and many others in my state. I just pray to God you will have a Christmas as I will next year when I spend it with my sons. God bless your souls.
This is the first time I have even heard of such a scheme, so I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you are doing.
Thank you, all those who joined in the venture! The children of prisoners are the forgotten "victims" of crime, and one of the most severely at-risk groups in the UK today. You have made a small but significant difference to their lives.