Home About us Photos & Events Wings for L.I.F.E.

Wings Ministry hosts three parties a year: a Christmas, Easter, and a Back-To-School Party, hoping to reach families at important times throughout the year. The parties are held in sponsoring churches in different parts of the city and in different denominations. All participants in Wings, whether they are inmate�s family members or church volunteers, enjoy the interaction of Christians working together from many different denominations. Wings Ministry strives to build quality relationships and strong values in teenagers. Search Institute � in Minneapolis has identified 40 Developmental Assets � that are necessary for healthy growth in teenagers. Wings provides an arena for effective ways to rebuild assets in the lives of our young people, which can greatly reduce or prevent their involvement in at-risk behaviors.

The guardians and caregivers of the inmate�s children have time to meet with church and community leaders and volunteers. Contacts are made that can enable future support for the families and invitations are extended to the families to attend worship services of congregations in their neighborhoods. Inmate�s families are welcomed and encouraged to find a church home.

Wings Ministry started in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1995.

Here are some of the Wings Volunteers at the Santa Fe, New Mexico Prison.

Mission

Wings Ministry brings families of prisoners and Christian volunteers together as Children of God by:

Building relationships that transform the lives of families, volunteers and Christian communities.
Conducting joyous celebrations of Christ�s unconditional love that break down barriers.
Providing interdenominational mission opportunities for Christian communities worldwide.

Vision

Christ�s unconditional love shared with all families of prisoners.

Why Wings? Why is a program like Wings so necessary today?

Wings springs from the passion of caring Christians and the deep concern we have to minister to families of prisoners who have been largely shunned or ignored by our society.

In our society where children are all at risk in one way or another, children whose parent(s) are in prison, face even more challenges. Click here to view Quotes about the Wings Ministry. (needs the free PDF Viewer from Adobe� click here for viewer)

Public Info

2012 - 990 Retrun of Organization Exempt from Income Tax

Over 3.5 million Americans are being supervised by the correctional system.	The estimated cost to incarcerate an individual varies from $32,000 per year to over $130,000 per year!
America spends over $86 billion a year to incarcerate prisoners.	78% of inmates claim to have had a relative in prison and 1 in 10 children in America have an incarcerated parent.
The national recidivism rate is about 67%.	The prison population has more than doubled in the past 10 years.
At least 33% of black men in their twenties are incarcerated or on probation.	Over 50% of the children who have a parent in prison NEVER visit their parent in prison.
There are at least 2.5 million children in this country who have incarcerated parents.	If current trends continue, 1 in 15 Americans will be incarcerated in their lifetime.
In New Mexico there are approximately 6,000 children of prisoners (5,000 in Bernalillo County – Albuquerque area).	New Mexico rates poorly in comparison to the rest of the nation in the way we care for our children.
Children of prisoners are 7 times more likely to become incarcerated themselves. They are at critical risk of dropping out of school, getting involved in violence, and teen pregnancy, due to the fact that most of them are living in poverty-stricken, high crime areas with few or no positive adult role models.	One of every four children (26%) in New Mexico lives in poverty, making it the 3rd poorest state for children. New Mexico is the 4th highest ranked state for teen births, and 3rd highest for teen death rate due to accident, homicide or suicide. The high school drop-out rate nationwide improved since 1990, but New Mexico�s drop out rate worsened to 11%.

Board Members & Participating Churches

Wings Ministry is a Christian Organization that works with all mainline denominiations and non-dinominational congregations. Everyone is welcome at a Wings party.

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Wings Ministry Statement of Policy and Procedure

Wings Ministry Parties & Wings for L.I.F.E. cannot allow participation by any person convicted as a sex offender.

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Ann Edenfield Sweet
Executive Director/Founder
2270 D Wyoming NE #130
Albuquerque, NM 87112
1-505-291-6412
1-505-291-6418 Fax
[email protected]

What are we doing?

Wings Parties!

We strongly believe that they are the beginning for many of these family members to feel welcome and become involved in a local church.

Wings Ministry cannot allow participation by any person convicted as a sex offender. This protects program participants and ensures that offenders do not violate the terms of their probation/parole.

Learn more about Wings

To learn more about Wings Ministry, read our Action Plan.

Marissa Nordstrom Perez of Relational Sensibilities: Evaluation, Research & Writing Services produced The Inner Workings of the Wings Ministry: A Compelling Organizational Story for us. This study yields valuable insight into our ministry.

The Prison Family Bill of Rights, affirmed in 2012 and adopted in 2013 by the National Prisoner's Family Conference resonates with Wings' core values.