Nonprofit Hosts Free Basketball Camp For Kids With Incarcerated Parents

Prison Fellowship Angel Tree hosted a basketball camp in Norman this weekend, welcoming more than 200 children with a parent in prison.

“These kids are all going through possibly the same thing. Somewhere we're connected to the incarceration system. And these babies get to see people that's like them, that's going through the same thing,” Brandon Jones with Prison Fellowship Angel Tree said.

“My dad going to prison, it hurt me. But, you know, I just had to get up on my feet and just really keep going,” Joe Thomas, one of the kids attending the camp, said.

He says the community at Prison Fellowship has changed his life and his two younger sisters.

Through Prison Fellowship, children are supported by individuals who understand their struggles.

“When my mom was taken away from me, nobody sat next to me and said, ‘Hey, it’s going to be OK. There are other people out here like you,’” Jones said.

The basketball camp combines sports and faith — two elements Jones says saved his life as a young adult.

“For me to be able to come here and share my testimony and spread love to these kids is just amazing,” he said.

Jones has dedicated his life to helping kids in similar circumstances through Prison Fellowship.

“To break that cycle is going to take a community, is going to take certain kind of people around them, certain love and exposure to way better things than incarceration situations,” he said.

The goal is to kids like Thomas and his sisters hope for the future.

“Places like this are amazing because they let you know there are people there for you,” Thomas said.

To learn more about Prison Fellowship Angel Tree, CLICK HERE.