Spreading the Love

I have to confess, I don't really care about Valentine's Day. My spouse and I don't make a big deal of it, and it passes without much fanfare at our house (except for all the candy my kids bring home from school!). Part of the reason we don't pay much attention to the holiday is that we have the privilege of celebrating love in lots of different ways whenever we choose. For our incarcerated friends, however, even so-called "Hallmark Holidays" like Valentine's Day can be a painful reminder of what they are missing.

This year, some of the folks at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Tacoma, WA took the time to brighten Valentine's Day for the folks at WCCW by making cards and writing messages of encouragement and love. The kids of TPC (and some adults too) gathered in early February to create the cards, and then they sent them to our partner organization, Underground Ministries. Underground Ministries was able to help ensure that every card made its way into the hands of someone inside WCCW. Here is a quote from an individual who received one of the cards:

Yesterday on one of those tuff holidays I received to my surprise a valentine's day card ...again its not easy being in here during holidays and feeling those feeling of loneliness so getting something like that really picked (my) spirits up...Thank you again.

Suddenly I do care about Valentine's Day, because it is an opportunity to remind our incarcerated friends that we love them. Huge thanks to Trinity for taking on this project!

In other exciting news, some folks from Hagar's Guide Team will be joining me at a Volunteer & Sponsor Training with WCCW this week. I'm told that following our completion of this training, we will be able to schedule regular worship services INSIDE WCCW! It almost doesn't feel real, but the end is finally in sight. Please pray that we will be able to be scheduled right away following the training. Thank you, friends!