Our immediate goal is to flesh out a pilot program of family care ministries through local churches. These ministries will specifically target the temporary widows and orphans of incarcerated individuals for the primary purpose of reducing the stress of waiting for their reunion, thereby strengthening their respective marriages and families and bringing them hope in the waiting.
Our secondary purpose is to demonstrate the viability of the program for a potential partnership or brand launch with a nationally recognized and established ministry (such as Prison Fellowship or Promise Keepers). We essentially propose establishing an Angel Tree-type program (as popularized by Prison Fellowship at Christmastime) for the other 364 days of the year. It would include both the wants (like Christmas gifts) and needs (the material realities of fatherless or motherless home) of the families of the incarcerated.
When a husband is hospitalized, that sets wheels into motion within the church to care for his temporary widow and orphans. If a woman tragically passes, similar machinations occur seemingly automatically. But what happens when a parent faces incarceration? The church has no historical flywheels in place that begin spinning, and the temporary widows and orphans of the incarcerated face a long and lonely wait.