In 1998 Tom and Tricia Irwin of Hempstead, Texas, noticed a table sign at their church seeking volunteers for Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program.

They signed up, took tags for two children from one family, and purchased the suggested gifts. On a Saturday just before Christmas, they delivered the gifts to the home, gratified by touching the lives of two little boys.

Christmas is right around the corner and churches across the country are working hard to make sure that more than 500,000 children whose parents are in prison can have something to look forward to this holiday season. For many, giving a gift to a child in need means a simple trip to Target, but for five kids from Indiana, it meant giving up their own Christmas presents.

It’s not everyday that the phone rings and it’s the White House on the line. But that was exactly the case a few weeks ago when Prison Fellowship received a personal invitation to participate in a round-table discussion with President Bush and First Lady, Laura Bush, who is heading up the Helping America’s Youth Initiative. This initiative, aimed at helping at-risk youth, particularly seeks to address the needs of some of the most needy and overlooked children of our society, the children of prisoners.

It's sunny and 95 in Phoenix as 13-year-old Steve attacks the weeds growing in the sandlot at the Downtown Neighborhood Learning Center. Nicknamed "Opie" for his cropped red hair and freckles, he works up a sweat prying the stubborn roots loose with a shovel. This is Make a Difference Day, when youth volunteers tackle community projects all over the city. Steve and his MatchPoint mentor, Scott Darnall, have been assigned with other MatchPoint participants to clean up the learning center's lot.