Opportunities Things you and your church can do to help the incarcerated and newly released  Send a card to someone who has a loved one in prison  Visit someone in the local jail  Send the chaplain a note of encouragement  Drive a family member to visit the prison/jail Call a family member who may be feeling isolated from the community   Bake the love in Kairos cookies  Send birthday cards  Be a pen pal  Write sets of cards for Kairos weekends  Provide gifts for Angel Tree  Contribute to the toothpaste project  Donate new or used softcover bibles  Write to your legislators about the death penalty  Help a re-entrant find a job  Pay the fines of a re-entrant  Go to the DMV with a re-entrant to help them with documents  Tutor or mentor a child  Mentor a returnee  Teach parenting classes inside the fence  Pray  Provide low cost or free housing  Assist with medical expenses  Provide medical exams  Advocate for drug treatment  Donate gently used clothing for job interviews  Develop job resumes  Teach someone to read  Provide clothing at the fence for the trip home  Sponsor a child to All God's Children Camp  Provide books to children about parental incarceration  Provide transportation to prisons to family members  Start a UMW or UMM on the inside of the fence  Visit inside the fence (contact your chaplain)  Financially support a Kairos team member  Support Girl Scouts Behind Bars  Provide transportation to AA and NA meetings  Help a re-entrant find housing  Provide the chaplains with birthday cards for use by inmates  Provide the chaplains with Mother's Day cards for use by inmates  Provide the chaplains with Father's Day cards for use by inmates  Provide the chaplains with Easter cards for use by inmates  Provide the chaplains with Christmas cards for use by inmates  Hire a returnee  Help a re-entrant develop a business  Drive children to doctor's appointments  Help keep a child's school and health records current  Become a foster parent  Take pictures of the inmate's family to send into prison  Provide children with incentives for doing well in school Fix a re-entrant's hair and give her a manicure and pedicure  Provide scholarships for children  Provide scholarships for adults wanting to take adult courses  Provide subway and bus tokens  Purchase school supplies  Encourage children to tell their life stories  Give gift cards to chain stores for re-entrants to use to set up households  Give children stationary and stamps so they can write to their parents  Throw a baby shower for a grand parent or foster parent  Come to a Kairos Closing  Provide toys and educational materials for prison visiting rooms  Advocate for family visiting rooms in prisons and jails  Serve on a prison oversight committee  Serve as a translator in prison or jail  Sign to inmates who are deaf or hard of hearing  Advocate for transitional housing  Fix meals for families  Take care of inmates pet(s)  Provide dog treats for canine programs inside the fence  Provide Disciple Bible Study materials to the Chaplains  Write thank you letters to prison ministry volunteers  Provide volunteer recognition items  Donate thank you cards to the Chaplain  Donate to Chaplaincy Service of Virginia  Donate funds to Good News Jail and Prison Ministry  Develop a website for a prison ministry  Print brochures about CJAMM or local prison and aftercare ministries  Wrap gifts for Angel Tree  Teach financial literacy and budgetting  Support professional development and in-service training for Chaplains  Study the 137 scriptural references to imprisonment in the Bible  Advocate for alternatives to incarceration  Advocate for victim counseling  Provide vocational training  Provide apprenticeship opportunities  Advocate for the restoration of families  Provide space for AA and NA meetings  Adopt a family  Fill out the paperwork for restoration of voter's rights for an individual  Rent out a room in your house to a returnee  Fix and serve dinner at a transitional house  Offer scholarship for job-related training, such as basic computer skills or cosmetology Offer scholarship to church's daycare for children of released inmates Provide Pocket calendars to re-entrants  Provide a wall calendar for re-entrants  Personal computer and printer  Donate McDonald’s coupons, gift cards to families  Prepaid cell phone (about $50 at Circuit City or Best Buy) Provide Phone cards to families  Provide Bus tokens for re-entrants  Purchase Subway farecards (DC Metro area) Help organize an address book of contacts and job leads  Purchase Work boots for someone starting a new job  Provide a Wallet and few new bills  Donate Business-like tote or portfolio for job interviews  Provide Underwear to re-entrants  Purchase Socks for re-entrants and family members  Donate sheets, towels, toiletries to All God’s Children Camp for children of incarcerated mothers (in Virginia) Help writing and typing resume Rent a room in your home Hire someone in your business Hire someone to do yard work at home  Hire someone to do yard work at church Volunteer with the Chaplain at a local jail Take adult literacy training and then volunteer with GED class at local jail Purchase subscriptions to Guideposts and Upper Rooms for the Chaplains  Provide on the job training Provide gift certificates for clothing, tools, household items  Provide bus token/metro cards for job seeking  Provide long distance telephone calling cards  Donate towels, linens, hygiene kits to halfway houses  Provide alarm clocks to halfway houses  Supply Christmas stockings to transitional houses  Provide pro bono dental care  Provide pro bono medical care  Provide the returnees first pair of eyeglasses  Invite a re-entrant to your church for Sunday services  If you have additional suggestions for this list, please email them to Patmos Ministries at pnmarks@patmosministries.net