We have an organization in our community, called Powerhouse Ministries: "Some of the people we minister to are families of prisoners at Folsom State Prison. But most are just men and women dealing with ordinary, difficult and painful life events: the loss of a job or home, drug and alcohol abuse, divorce and lack of child care or transportation."

They have a drop-in center, neighborhood outreach programs, and a family transition center.

Anyway, this year we're participating in Angel Tree again. My husband chose a 16 year old boy and I chose a 4 year old girl. In fact, we went shopping for them today. We were instructed to spend $40 each and were given sizes and ideas of what they wanted. We'll wrap the gifts and affix a card "signed" by their parents/caregivers. The gifts will be given out at the big dinner/celebration our church is throwing for them in December.

We've always done this stuff on our own, but this year my husband's dad and sister are going to do it too (the malls in AZ have angel trees as well) and we'll then send cards to each other saying what we got our "kids" in lieu of getting each other stuff. Pretty cool.