Dear Woman, I know you have done something wrong. You think that everyone has forgotten you. I haven’t. God hasn’t. We still love you.”
It was a simple letter written by 10-year-old Brooke Hill of First Baptist Church, Trussville, in Birmingham Baptist Association 14 years ago. But to an anonymous inmate at Christmas, the message was anything but simple.
This holiday season marks the 15th year of Mary Posey Thomas and several of her fellow Prison Fellowship volunteers taking handmade Christmas cards from children across the state to the female inmates of Julia Tutwiler Prison in Wetumpka.
The ministry got its start in 1992, when Thomas had an idea about how to share a little love with about 75 inmates who were attending Prison Fellowship’s monthly Bible study.
“I had the idea to make them Christmas cards, but when I asked the prison chaplain, he told me no,” said Thomas, who attends Centercrest Baptist Church, Center Point. The chaplain said if she wanted to this, then she would have to make cards for all 800 inmates.
Originally the project seemed overwhelming, but the more Thomas thought about it, the more she realized that with a little publicity, she could pull it off. She contacted Birmingham Baptist Association and churches and day cares across the state and soon rounded up enough cards for all 800.
Now the ministry well exceeds 800 cards each year, often bringing in up to 1,300. They are distributed to the now 1,000 inmates of Tutwiler Prison, with the extras sent to other prisons or relief ministries.
Thomas said she gets cards from all over the state — some from “places I’ve never even heard of.”
The cards are handmade by children, typically ages 6–12, as part of a Sunday School class or day-care project. Items like construction paper, cutout pictures and original drawings with personal messages are used to make the cards, which should include the child’s first name and age.
The cards are then mailed or delivered to the Birmingham Association office, which has served as a repository for the ministry since its beginning.
Thomas picks them up each year, inspects each one and then with the other volunteers distributes them by hand to the prisoners.
“It’s a wonderful feeling,” said Helen Rogers, a volunteer who helped with the distribution one year. “The letters meant so much to all those ladies. I’ll never forget it.”
The impact of the cards is never more evident than in the response from the inmates.
One year, a group made a giant thank-you card for Thomas and all those involved.
Many of the inmates keep their cards from year to year.
“Most of these women are mothers themselves,” Thomas said. “Some are grandmothers. They love to see the names and ages of the children who write, and they’ll point and say, ‘Oh, I have a son named Jeff.’”
Beyond the impact on the lives of inmates, however, the ministry also has provided ideal opportunities for teachers or parents to address children about both the importance of compassion and the danger of bad choices.
Marie Duncan, a member of Centercrest Baptist and a longtime teacher for Girls in Action and Royal Ambassadors, has used the project over the years to teach children valuable lessons and show them that there are many ways to share Christ.
“It’s a way to let children see you can be a missionary by signing your name to a card,” Duncan said. “I’ve worked with children for years, and many who are now grown up come and ask me if I still do the letters. It’s a wonderful way to teach children.”
Ultimately all those involved say the purpose is the smile the cards bring to the women in prison.
“That’s not a place given to smiling,” Thomas said. “But when we hand out the letters, that’s the one time that everyone is smiling. All 1,000 of them are smiling.”
Cards should be brought or mailed to Birmingham Baptist Association, Attention: Mary Thomas, 750 Montclair Road, Birmingham, AL 35213, by Nov. 21.
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