CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Volunteers from churches in our area and the Horry County Sheriff’s Office will pass out a gift bag to every inmate at J. Reuben Long Detention Center today.
Each bag will have candy, soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, pens, paper and five stamped envelopes.
All bags are carefully checked to make sure the items are secure and meet specific safety requirements.
While the items are not what most people wish for under the tree, those who work to put the 800 bags together say this is a way to show inmates they are not forgotten.
“It’s not unusual to have an inmate cry,” Hill says. “You take this bag and you open this bag up, and it’s soap, and it’s toothpaste, and it’s a toothbrush, and a handful of candy, and envelopes, and maybe things they couldn’t afford to get. It’s the opportunity for them to write their family and correspond with them.”
Hill says passing out the bags is a humbling experience and the holidays can be lonely for inmates as they don’t have the opportunity to spend time with their families.
“We get to go home for Christmas,” Hill says. “We’re going to be with our families and our friends. These men and women don’t get the opportunity to do that. So what we say to them, what the churches of Horry County say to them is, we haven’t forgotten about you and someone still loves you and someone still cares about you.”
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