NORTHEAST OHIO Ministry group reaches out to the children of inmates
The group does more than just give presents to the children.
PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- A Northeast Ohio prison ministry group isn't reaching out to inmates, but to children who are without a mother or father because a parent is incarcerated.
Ron Colvin said he founded the nonprofit Freedom Village Prison Ministry because while there are prison ministries that help inmates, there were no agencies or programs to help inmates' children.
"Everyone just assumed another parent or caregiver would step in," Colvin said.
Last year, Colvin helped deliver Christmas presents to about 300 children, all of whom have a parent in prison.
He said one 8-year-old boy's father was in prison and his mother was on drugs. His grandmother, who had little money, cared for the boy.
When the boy opened the door Christmas Eve to see a man with his arms full of presents, he told the man he had the wrong house.
"When we told him, no, the presents were for him and his brother, he cried," said Colvin, who also is president of the Lake County Branch of the NAACP.
Statistics
The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 2 percent of children in the United States have a parent in prison. In 1999, about 2 million children had parents incarcerated in either a state or federal prison, federal statistics show.
"These are children who through no fault of their own have been cast aside and stigmatized," Colvin said.
"While a civilized society must punish those who break the law, we must be careful not to confine the children of prisoners to a life of hopelessness," he said.
The ministry gets names of inmates who are parents from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. The inmates are sent letters asking if they want to participate and to provide the names and addresses of their children.
Colvin said he initially hoped the program could help children all over Northeast Ohio, but the list of inmates numbered in the thousands. This year the group gathered 700 inmate names and nearly 2,000 children's names from Lake County alone.
Ministry volunteers collect donated toys and clothes and spend a weekend wrapping and delivering presents.
Not just at Christmas
The program extends beyond the holiday, providing children with educational meetings and tickets to Indians games. The ministry also gives families rides to prisons so children can maintain parental ties.
The Rev. Gerard Mirbel, chaplain for the ministry program, drove two boys to visit their mother at Ohio State Reformatory for Women and said the boys were reluctant at first to enter the prison to visit her.
"They didn't say much at all on the way down," Mirbel said. "After seeing their mother, they talked all way home. I could see the sunshine coming from their eyes."
In an effort to expand its services, the group is forming a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Ohio to offer mentors for at-risk children.