Project Angel Tree

By Kyle Kim-Hays (featured originally in the Bishop’s E-pistle)

How much do you know about prisons and their impact? The U.S. tracks detailed data on things like GDP, employment, and personal income, but we don’t track things that we (arguably) don’t care about. For example, although we know that approximately 14% of children in Arizona have experienced parental incarceration, no one knows how many minor children currently have an incarcerated parent: our best guess is that more than 170,000 Arizonan children currently have at least one incarcerated parent. Escalating this from a tragedy to an elegiacally vicious cycle is the fact that these same children are seven times more likely to end up incarcerated themselves.

The Diocese of Arizona has long supported Project Angel Tree, which was created by Prison Fellowship Ministries to bring hope and healing to these children and their families. Churches commit to providing Christmas gifts to a set number of local children, introducing them to their ministries. The impact of this program has amazing ripple effects.

For example, a six-year-old boy with eyes wide with astonishment once said while reverently holding his unopened gift, “This is the best Christmas EVER!” In another situation, a rather intimidating inmate fought back tears and a surprisingly soft expression after hearing about his daughter’s delight over her Christmas gift.

On a personal note, although neither of my parents was ever incarcerated, I still remember and am grateful for every kindness extended to me as a foster child and homeless youth. To be sure, there are many other tragic stories to be told, but the point is that gestures like Project Angel Tree do make a difference.

What makes Project Angel Tree even more important is how it beautifully dovetails into our diocesan Camp Genesis program, which serves the same children through a summer camp.

Project Angel Tree is also a great opportunity to foster intra-diocesan collaboration. In Tucson, Saint Alban’s, Saint Michael and All Angels, and Saint Philip’s in the Hills are in discussion about how they can coordinate administrative and logistic efforts for Angel Tree 2025.

Please contact Kyle Kim-Hays at k2hays@gmail.com to learn how your parish can make a difference. It starts with a gift!