It’s that special time of the year again. The Eastern PA Conference Prison Ministry & Restorative Justice (PMRJ) Team is asking church and conference members and friends to download, print and sign its online selection of Christmas greeting cards to be delivered and shared, in an act of Christian love, with thousands of prison inmates across our region. The deadline for cards to be delivered to the Conference Office or to District offices is Monday, Nov. 5, 2018.
The Christmas Cards for Inmates Project has grown each year. Last December nearly 9,500 Christmas cards were, in the words of a popular song, “signed, sealed, delivered,” mostly to recipients in 11 of our region’s county and state correctional facilities. That total exceeded the roughly 8,000 signed cards collected in 2016.
All it takes to succeed each year is for more people to pen a few caring words and sign their names to simple, photocopied greeting cards . The cards are carefully designed and vetted, bearing modest but meaningful messages of Christmas hope and joy. They inspire in many inmates grace and gratitude, emotions perhaps rarely felt living in a penal institution.
Visit the Prison Ministry & Restorative Justice webpage and find the downloadable cards and instructions. It is a perfect way to remember the true reason for the Christmas season. Also view the UMCom video about this ministry produced in 2016: Church Christmas Cards Show Care to Prisoners | View on YouTube
Note: Inmate mail screening and delivery restrictions were recently imposed at PA state prisons after employees were exposed to dangerous drugs and other unknown substances through the mail. The PMRJ Team is working with prison authorities to continue bulk delivery of our Christmas cards to state and county institutions in November.