“Joining CIC has created a space in my life for understanding and connections.
Originally, I wasn’t sure how exactly joining the group would help me. Until I attended a few meetings and listened to other situations that sounded like mine. The experiences offered to the families continue to improve our lives.
My nephew was offered the opportunity to run a marathon and receive free running shoes. He is now an avid runner and actually received a gold and bronze medal in the 2023 city finals.
In addition the group provided an opportunity for a free week at camp. With hesitation we allowed him to attend. Our family for several generations never did camp. He was the first one to attend camp in our family. Not only did he enjoy camp, he’s already talking about next year!
The friendships and conversations are truly beneficial to the process of healing. Recently, I attended a full day of facilitator training. Excited to see where this journey leads myself and our group.”
-A CIC Caregiver
Angel Tree Gift Drive
Since 2022, CIC has collaborated with Mercy Vineyard Church on an Angel Tree Gift Drive. Through this initiative, church members purchase Christmas gifts for youth with an incarcerated parent. Caregivers whose children received presents through the 2024 gift drive shared their gratitude:
“My kids was very happy to receive the gifts from Angel tree they were very excited and happy to receive their clothes and plushies sonic figure. Angel tree is not only a blessing from above for the kids it’s also a gap filler for the parents as well. Angel tree takes a lot of burden off parents who are struggling and really helps bring more joy to a household that needs a purpose and push in life.”
“My daughter and I are grateful for CIC and Angel Tree. We really loved the gifts and the plushie was a very nice surprise, she sleeps with it every night. The Mancala game brings back so many memories from my childhood. I’m so grateful that I’m able to bond with my child over a game of mancala. Thank you again Angel Tree and Happy New Year.”
“I love that they are able to get gifts from someone besides me. My parents have both passed and their dad cannot do much from prison, so it is like having extra family members. Thank you so much!”
“We are so grateful for the blessings from CIC year-round and Mercy Vineyard Church during Christmas. My daughter loved her volleyball – it was the perfect blue too! Light blue is her favorite color right now. So amazing that a complete stranger picked that just for her. The red hoodie she received fits perfectly, and since she is getting more and more into school spirit (colors are red/black) she is happy to have a hoodie to wear to the basketball games we attend!”
“The girls were super excited that they received exactly what they had asked for!! This would not have been possible without the help of Angel Tree & Mercy Vineyard Church!! Having the extra cost of raising 3 children is a huge burden and we appreciate any help we can get. Seeing the smiles on the girls’ faces was my favorite Christmas present this year!! Our family is super grateful and I would love to thank everyone involved for giving the girls such wonderful gifts!!”
“My son was over the moon happy with his LED lights and his sports sleeves! He said those were his favorite gifts and the only two he got that he asked for! Angel tree gifts meant so much to my son and I. It gave him a sense that his dad was able to give a little which meant the most to him! THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE FOR MY SON AND ALL THE OTHER CHILDREN WHO ARE LIVING OUT HERE WITH AN INCARCERATED PARENT.”
“I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for the wonderful gifts you gave me and my daughter this Christmas. Each one was so thoughtful and truly means a lot to us. Your generosity and kindness always brighten my day, and I feel incredibly lucky to been a part of this. Thank you for making the holiday season even more special with your thoughtful gestures.”
“This program has a huge impact on my family because it connects my grandson to our Christmas celebrations in ways he wouldn’t otherwise have. As a single grandmother with custody of two grandchildren resources can feel scarce and time to buy, wrap, etc gifts can be challenging as well. My Grand children have been deeply blessed for the past 3 years through this program and the wonderful people who support it. Thank you!”
“We appreciated the kindness that was spread to our family. We hit a tough spot last year and were really having a hard time making ends meet. We are very grateful to have kind and caring people to help us during these hard times. My daughter was really grateful for the gifts that she received. Thanks to all of you!”
“My daughter was so happy to receive the gifts she received from Angel Tree. She enjoys the heated blanket. That was one of the main gifts she wanted. With Mercy Vineyard Church it definitely helped my family out being that I was not able to get the kiddos everything on their Christmas list.”
“Receiving the gifts for the children was such a stress reliever! […] This made our Christmas a little more special.”
YMCA Family Camp
Photograph by Emily Baxter
Since 2019, CIC has partnered with the YMCA of the North to send youth impacted by parental incarceration to YMCA Camp Icaghowan for a week of summer camp each year. This fall, we introduced a new opportunity to CIC youth and their caregivers: a weekend family camp. The families who participated had YMCA Camp Icaghowan all to themselves and enjoyed activities such as dodgeball, the climbing wall, and even swimming in the chilly water. The feedback we received from caregivers was resoundingly positive.
“It was fun. I enjoyed it. I think the girls had fun too […] I liked it. It was fun. I hadn’t been to camp in 30 years, so that was a fun little throwback. The girls went to their activity time, I relaxed, did some hiking, read a book – it was relaxing. […] The food was great.”
“It was really fun. The kids really liked it, they got to know the other kids. It was better than I was expecting it to be. They grouped everyone into different age categories, took them and did different fun things with them. I got to hang out with my daughter […] There wasn’t anything I wished was different. It was a little too cold to swim, but we went swimming anyway. Yeah, I would do again!”
“It was great! It would have been nice to have more time. There were a lot of things we could have done. It was very structured. Thankfully my son let me have some adult time. I really liked it, it was a good time. I did meet other caregivers […] For the most part, the kids played together really well during kid time. My son enjoyed it, he really liked the YMCA camp during the summer too – at first he was nervous, but then he came back and was like ‘I want to go for the whole summer!’ No suggestions for improvement. Absolutely would do it next year.”
“It was so much fun. It was just really great. I wish it was a little longer, like an MEA weekend, two days would have been nice. We got to climb the wall, and do swimming, and I didn’t think I was going to make it up the wall, but my daughter and the counselors pushed me. It was really peaceful. I took the kids on a hike around the island and that was really nice. My friend’s sons were able to point out different things because they’d been to camp before.
It was really nice to be in the nature and have the cabin experience. The food was good. The counselors there were really awesome. […] They were really welcoming. It was good to see everybody so nice. Would I do it again? Oh my goodness, yes.”
“I thought it went really well. The staff were amazing. I would say, the whole thing had some sort of plan set up. There was some downtime choices for things to do, but they had it action-packed, which was helpful. The kids liked it a lot […] They did not stop feeding us, they were phenomenal. The cabins were perfect, it was just us in our cabin. If I could make it work, would love to come next year.”
“It was beautiful, it was fun, we laughed. It was scary at night time! The food was really nice. I ran into a deer at 2:30 in the morning going to the bathroom. We had a standoff. The weather was nice. The boys love it there. They love all the staff, all the staff love them – they basically run that place. I played a little dodgeball and went two inches up the climbing wall. It was bonding time. All the families ate together, sat on the swings. I would most definitely want to go back – I wish it was more days. Me and the boys had a great time. It was too short for us. We didn’t want to leave.”