Thousands of Bikers Rally This Month for Nation’s Most At-Risk Kids

SEPT. 20: 10-State UNITY RIDE to Help Reconnect America’s 1.5 Million Prisoners’ Kids with Their Inmate Parents

ATLANTA, Sept. 12, 2008—On Saturday, Sept. 20, thousands of leather-clad motorcyclists in 12 cities across the nation will team up with Prison Fellowship, the world’s largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families.  The goal of the 3rd annual UNITY RIDE is to collect Christmas gifts for some of our nation’s most vulnerable children - those who have a mother or father in prison.  The ride is sponsored by national biker magazine Wheels of Grace and benefits Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree, a year-round program that reaches out to prisoners’ children and includes providing them with Christmas gifts on behalf of their incarcerated parents.

The motorcycle rides and prayer events are open to all bikers, and the cost to ride is $10 plus a new children’s toy.  For details about each ride and media opportunities, click your location below.

• Atlanta
• Carson City, Nev.
• Cleveland
• Detroit
• Dallas/Fort Worth
• Houston
• Central Florida
• Phoenix
• Sacramento, Calif.
• Southern California

At noon EST bikers at all 12 UNITY RIDES will connect via live webcast or audio conference for a joint prayer to show their solidarity with and rally support for the 1.5 million children in America who have a parent behind bars.

By every measure, prisoners’ children are among the most severely at-risk youth in America.  They often experience behavior and school performance problems.  These children frequently report suffering from social stigma and shame.¹  In addition to lowering the likelihood of recidivism among incarcerated parents, research finds that maintaining the child-parent relationship while a parent is incarcerated improves the child’s emotional response to the incarceration and encourages parent-child bonding.²  Since 1982, Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program has provided 16 million Christmas gifts to some 7.5 million children of prisoners nationwide.

MEDIA NOTE:  To request an advance interview with a local Angel Tree child or UNITY RIDE biker, or for an on-site media contact, click the link to a specific location above.  For more information, including an Angel Tree fact sheet, statistics about children of prisoners and high-resolution, downloadable photos, visit the press kit and photo sections of this online newsroom.

¹ Vulnerability of Children of Incarcerated Addict Mothers: Implications for Preventive Intervention, Children and Youth Services Review (2005)
² Examining the Effect of Incarceration and In-Prison Family Contact on Prisoners’ Family Relationships, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice (2005)

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