Inmates, staff help bring Christmas to local children

The spirit of giving is alive and well at the Point MacKenzie correctional center.

This holiday season, staff and inmates at the Point MacKenzie Rehabilitation Farm raised about $900 to purchase gifts for the Special Santa program. The result -- a dozen local children received gifts they otherwise wouldn't have, and the prison inmates got to take part in the spirit of the holiday.

"Some of the inmates said it made them feel like they got to have Christmas by helping and wrapping the presents," said Jacqueline Anderson, the staff nurse at the correctional facility.

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, the correctional center began to gather donations. Anderson said some of the money came from Point MacKenzie's 20 staff members, but the majority of the donations were from the center's 85 inmates.

The inmates are paid a small salary for the work they do at the correctional farm. Because they aren't given cash, Anderson said, their accounts are all handled by computer, and inmates fill out a request to make a donation. By the time December rolled around, the staff and inmates had gathered around $900.

"It's very significant, especially from a group that doesn't have a large income," said Mari Jo Parks, coordinator for the Special Santa program. She said she doesn't discuss the size of donations made by various organizations, but she did say the Point MacKenzie donation was considerable.

"It's wonderful," she said.

As Dec. 25 neared, Anderson took the donated money and went Christmas shopping. The final total enabled her to purchase gifts for 12 Valley children. Parks said the correctional center originally committed to just six children, but ended up having more money than expected.

Anderson brought the purchased gifts back to Point MacKenzie.

"About a week before Christmas we have to have the presents in to the Special Santa program, so we have a wrapping party and the inmates wrap all the presents," Anderson said.

The Point MacKenzie inmates were among a wide variety of individuals and groups who helped Special Santa provide Christmas to 2,500 Valley children this year. Parks said the communitywide support for the program, from the U.S. Marines to local schools, has been amazing.

"It's very magical," she said.

Anderson said this is the fourth year the correctional center has donated to the Special Santa program, and they plan to do it again next Christmas.

But Special Santa is not Point MacKenzie's only community service project. Over the years, inmates have assisted with Hope's Helping Hand by cutting firewood for local families, cleaning up litter from along roads and highways for the City of Wasilla and clearing trees for river bank erosion control, among other projects.

During 2001 alone Point MacKenzie inmates logged nearly 5,500 hours of community service.

The Point MacKenzie Rehabilitation Program began in 1993 and is designed to assist low-custody inmates as they transition from traditional correctional centers into the community. The facility offers work programs in a farm environment as well as educational opportunities.