THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 20, 1994 TAG: 9412200348
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
For the past 12 years, volunteers with Prison Fellowship have given Christmas presents to inmates' children. Each child receives a gift they really need, and one they really want.
Volunteers talk to the child's care-giver - usually a mother or grandmother - to fill out wish lists. The volunteers purchase presents, then distribute them to families before Christmas. If the child lives too far away, gifts can also be mailed.
Last year, more than 14,000 North Carolina kids received presents. About 3,000 children in northeastern North Carolina benefited from the program.
About 300 prisoners' families in the Albemarle area still waiting to be adopted for Christmas 1994. Individuals, groups or families are invited to aid prisoners who want to send something to their children. Presents need to be purchased and distributed as soon as possible.
Volunteers especially are needed in Beaufort, Bertie, Edgecombe, Halifax, Martin, Nash, North Hampton and Perquimans counties.
For more information, or to sign up to sponsor an inmate's child, call Prison Fellowship at 800-445-5244. Or contact Jim Southern (919) 781-8116 or Marcia Danchise on the Outer Banks (919) 473-5007 or 800-638-8464. by CNB