Shopping is not on an inmate's list of things to do from prison, even if there's a hopeful child somewhere waiting for a Christmas package.

As part of a ministry called Prison Fellowship, volunteers fill the gap between a parent in jail and their children's yuletide wish lists.

This year, 102 Butler County children are receiving gifts through Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree program, according to Kim Craig, ministry support center manager for Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

"The idea is to try to keep the connection with the family," Craig said. "We're also giving them the connection with the church and with the Gospel."

Prison Fellowship, a broader ministry that strives to help those incarcerated and their families experience the grace of Jesus Christ, has seen its Angel Tree program swell from 500 children when it started in 1982 to some 500,000 in the United States, Craig said.

This year has the most children ever participating from Butler County as well.

Though Prison Fellowship works to include all children eligible for the program, the rise in numbers "unfortunately, I think is because of the crime in the area," Craig said.Sign ups for Angel Tree are conducted each August or September. Incarcerated parents must fill out paperwork for their children to participate."Last year when I called, all the names had been distributed," said Ann Patterson of Cabot, the volunteer who coordinates the Angel Tree at her church, Thorncreek United Methodist in Butler.Thorncreek parishioners have been helping out with Angel Tree for about five years, Patterson said."The first year we did it, the Butler area had been taken, and so we did the Mercer area."Last year, the church did not participate and parishioners missed it, Patterson said."We usually buy the presents and deliver them. I ask them when I contact the parent or grownup in the home if they want us to deliver them when they're there or when they're not there. Most do put them under the tree."Church members have 15 children to buy for this time around."This year is the first time the program included some of the ideas the parents had," Patterson said.Volunteers have no contact with the inmates. Prison Fellowship collected the suggestions.And inmates don't have to be part of Prison Fellowship to take part in the Angel Tree program, Craig said. If the parent is incarcerated after the late summer signup period, "we try to do whatever we can," she said."The goal is to have them think about their families, and they do."At Thorncreek, Patterson constructs a tree of artificial greens on the bulletin board at church and hangs up angel tags with ages written on them. Parishioners scoop up the tags, buy gifts and wrap them."They label them with children's name but obviously not their name because it's from the parents," Patterson said.Volunteers will include a message if the parents left one, like "Merry Christmas little man. From Daddy," Patterson said.

One year there were several mothers incarcerated, but this year it's all fathers, Patterson noted.The toys donated to Angel Tree by Seneca Valley Intermediate High School students are not destined for a particular child and so are not wrapped."I think Angel Tree uses our gifts mainly for their Christmas party, to hand out there," said adviser Linda Plesniak."The first year they came to pick up the gifts, they had to make a second trip there were so many. So now they bring a bigger car."The student council has conducted a new toy drive for Angel Tree for about four years, she said.Students bring in toys for children in two age ranges - 3 to 6 and 7 to 11, she said. There's no minimum or maximum price limit."Each teacher with a first period class gets one of these big stockings as a reminder," she said.

The 30 students on council collect the toys from the 1,200 ninth and 10th graders at the school.Students mostly bring in toys, some books and a few clothing items.The students seem adept at picking the toys to bring in, with fashion dolls, a miniature lab kit, and stuffed animals already collected."You think about what toys you would be playing with at that age," said ninth grader Matt Goll, student council vice president.The homeroom with the best decorations is awarded a pizza party, said Annie Fiscus, one of the student council's two secretaries. But the toy drive is conducted as a service project."Of all the things student council does, we feel this is such a worthwhile cause," Plesniak noted.Other groups from the area participating include Butler Church of the Nazarene, Lighthouse Fellowship Chapel in Sarver, and XL Gymnastics in Cranberry.