A Growing Partnership: Angel Tree Expands Opportunities for Kids at Joy El

Post By

Miriam Ankerbrand

For 13 years, Joy El has partnered with Prison Fellowship to provide a week of free camp to children with an incarcerated parent through Angel Tree. The first few years there were a few children who participated and in recent years, we’ve had over 100 children each summer attend camp through this program. The highest summer to date saw an attendance of 121 children!

The partnership with Angel Tree has grown. Now, Angel Tree also provides funding for each child to attend a retreat of their choice in addition to a week of summer camp. They have also begun to provide scholarships for these children to be a part of the 4.12 Leadership Training Program.

A couple of months ago, Angel Tree sent out a survey to their partnering camps. They wanted to learn more about what these camps do beyond summer camp. It was exciting to share about Bible Adventure and our 4.12 Leadership Training Program. Even more exciting was being able to share that because of their help, we had three students in 4.12 who were a part of Angel Tree. There were many questions about what a day of camp looked like, how often we had chapel services and Bible studies, what activities do we offer and much more. The survey was completed and turned in. I had no idea what completing this survey would mean for these kids!

Recently, we had a ZOOM meeting with Angel Tree coordinators from across the country. One of the topics for discussion was the survey that had been sent out. Angel Tree took the results and compiled them into three categories:

Partner camp – aligned with most of the fundamental aspects of Angel Tree
Mission Aligned camp – same as a partner camp, but also more aligned with some other key components of their ministry.
Highly Aligned camp – these camps are aligned with nearly every characteristic of Angel Tree.

They shared that there were 300 camps in 49 states (Utah being the only state without a camp providing camp for Angel Tree children). Of those camps, only 36 of them were considered a “Highly Aligned Camp” which was their highest level of participation. “You’ll find out in the next week what category your camp falls in line with,” they shared.

I was excited! It turned out that we didn’t need to wait for a week! The very next morning, I came in to find an email telling us that Joy El is a Highly Aligned Camp! This means a lot for the children who come to camp through Angel Tree! Now, in addition to a week of camp, a retreat and scholarships for the 4.12 program, they will also fund a second retreat for these children and increase their funding for Angel Tree summer camp scholarships! They will even help us with mailing out information to the children about summer camp. This is huge! It means that even more children can benefit from help through Angel Tree!

Psalm 82:3-4 reminds us why the Angel Tree partnership is so important. “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” These children did not ask for their mother or father (or sometimes both) to be in prison. It’s not their fault. God has provided a way for us help them draw closer to Him and learn about the love of their heavenly Father. We are so thankful for this partnership that helps children know more about Him!