Special Delivery Angel Tree Program Makes Sure Children Of Prisoners Don’t Go Without Christmas Presents

Hair neatly combed, Timmy Wood, 5, dances in the front window of his home, watching cars pass, waiting for a special visitor.

At last they arrive.

Tom and Judith Giannou and their 5-year-old son, loaded with gifts, enter the West Broadway storefront that Candice Tisor has transformed into home.

“What’s this? What’s this?” asks Timmy, his eyes growing wide.

He takes a present and studies the gift tag. “What’s it say?” he begs.

“To Timmy, I love and miss you. Love, Daddy John.”

The boy is suddenly silent. But only for a moment.

“How do you know Daddy John?” he asks softly.

They don’t.

John Tisor is serving a 12-year sentence in a Colorado prison for drug trafficking.

Last fall, he filled out an Angel Tree request form, asking volunteers to buy and deliver presents to his children for him.

The Giannous picked a tag with Timmy’s name off a tree at Indian Trail Community Church. They took the names of four other children as well. The tags offered gift ideas, clothing sizes and ages.

They shopped, wrapped and delivered the presents. The sparkle in Timmy’s eyes is all the reward they want.

“The Lord provides for us, and if we can’t see put to give something to others, then we need to re-examine what we are doing here,” says Tom Giannou, Spokane County computer center manager.

“We’ve been doing this for five or six years. It’s part of our Christmas,” says Judith Giannou.

Several churches in Spokane participate in the national Angel Tree program.

Nationwide, gifts were delivered to 600,000 children of prisoners last Christmas through Angel Tree. In Washington, gifts were delivered to 6,800 children. Nearly 500 gifts will be delivered to Spokane children this holiday.

Artye Lee Scott leads the project for Indian Trail Community Church on the North Side.

“Giving gifts to the children of prisoners is a whole different thing than giving to the needy,” she says.

Sometimes, church volunteers will knock at doors of homes nicer than their own, with more presents under the tree. But this gift is special. Volunteers hear over and over again: “I knew my daddy wouldn’t forget me.”

Angel Tree was started about 15 years ago by Mary Kay Beard, a former prisoner, who remembered inmates hoarding toothpaste, soap and shampoo through the year so they would have something to give their children on Christmas “family day.”

Dick Cinkovich, state director for the program, based in Seattle, said it’s crucial that children understand they are in “no shape or form forgotten by their parents.”

Prisoners with children eagerly fill out the form, anxious to make a holiday connection with their kids.

This is the third year Mark Warner, at Pine Lodge Pre-Release, has sent his boys, 7 and 8 years old, presents through Angel Tree.

“I love my children to death,” he said. “This is a way I can let them know I love them and think about them.

“The people who buy the presents are wonderful, they have given my kids some great, quality clothes and toys,” he said.

Mary Dollfe, also at Pine Lodge, has been in prison a year. She has two boys, 9 and 10 years old, in Spokane.

“This lets them know I’m thinking of them, even though I’m not able to be there with them,” she said.

She said Angel Tree made it easy for her to ask for help.

“I get a feeling that I’m not alone, that someone is helping me reach out to my kids,” she said.

The project is part of a larger prison fellowship program, to introduce inmates and their families into the church. Angel Tree opens the door for future visits.

Minutes after arriving, the Giannous are chatting with Timmy’s mom like old neighbors. They ask about her husband, how she’s doing, if there’s anything she needs.

Candice Tisor glances in the direction of her Christmas tree. Someone left it at her door. She brought it in and leaned it against the wall in a bucket of water.

“I could use a Christmas tree stand,” she says quietly.

They make a note. Tom Giannou tells her about the “Serenity Bible,” the New Testament interspersed with songs, proverbs and the 12-step program. He promises to bring her a copy.

Often, gift-givers stay in touch with the family through the year, sending cards, gifts, remembering birthdays, offering words of encouragement and a phone call now and then.

“If the relationship goes farther, it is up to the person on the receiving end,” said Judith Giannou. “You try to leave them with the message that you do care, that this is coming from the bottom of your heart. “

The idea is to break the cycle of crime in a family by showing children of prisoners another way of life, introducing many to the church and letting them know they aren’t alone.

“The children are the victims in this, and they haven’t done a thing,” says Scott. She has a special understanding of the program. Her own grandson is serving a 24-year prison sentence at Walla Walla for homicide.

“We let him know that we don’t like what happened, but he knows he is still loved,” says Scott.

While the adults talk, the two 5-year-olds play until it’s time to go.

“Very, very much thank you,” says Timmy as the Giannous leave. Candice Tisor thanks them for her husband.

“I know this is going to mean a lot to John,” she says.

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