Urena, the director of chaplaincy and religious services at the Philadelphia Department of Prisons, asked Schneider for blank Christmas cards to distribute to inmates so they can send them to their loved ones.
“The real punishment is not being able to share these special moments with your family,” he said.
Urena knows what that feels like — he said he spent more than two years in prison, where he reconnected with his faith.
“Faith to me and to many behind the walls is almost, like, an early probation,” he said. “We’ve heard of who God is, but we don’t know who God is until we have ourselves in our predicament.”
Urena and his wife volunteer with Prison Fellowship‘s Angel Tree, buying and distributing toys and warm clothes.
“I always remember the faces of the kids,” he said. “It’s so heart touching.”
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This article originally appeared here.
