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Angel Tree Brings Christmas Gifts to Children of Prisoners


Mississippi College's 2014 Angel Tree display in the cafeteria.

Katherine Farmer loves sharing Christmas gifts and the meaning of the season with children of Mississippi inmates.

“It breaks my heart to know that these kids won’t get gifts for Christmas,” the Mississippi College sophomore said at the Christian university’s Angel Tree display.

Farmer on Tuesday was among the latest in the Clinton campus to sign up to assist MC’s Angel Tree project.

Beginning in mid-November, the nationwide project of the organization Prison Fellowship does much more than put gifts in the hands of children as Christmas Day approaches.

“It shares Christ’s love,” says Katherine Farmer, a communication major from Pensacola, Florida. The 19-year-old MC student is also involved in the Angel Tree project at Gulf Breeze United Methodist Church in her Florida Panhandle hometown.

Needs of young sons and daughters of thousands of prisoners around Mississippi are immense year-round. At present, there were 25,611 men and women incarcerated around the Magnolia State. The USA’s prison population exceeds two million people. The United States is home to the world’s biggest prison population.

Mississippi College biology professor John Piletz contributes to the Angel Tree project at First Baptist Church Madison. “There are a lot of children with needs.” Angel Tree, he said, is a nice way to bring cheer to Mississippi families as the holiday season draws near.

Mississippi College Community Service Center Director Shari Barnes is encouraging faculty, staff and students to get involved and pick up their angels at her office or at the Angel Tree display in the school cafeteria.

Gifts, whether toys, sporting goods or winter clothing items, are due by December 10 and will be distributed to Central Mississippi area children a few days before Christmas.

For more information, contact Shari Barnes at 601-925-3267 or sbarnes@mc.edu.