DAYTONA BEACH -- William Gray has a pretty typical Christmas list for a 4-year-old boy: He wants a bat cave, he says, or maybe a talking "Iron Man" action figure.

He also has a pretty typical response to the new Christmas packages just stacked in his arms:

"Can we open these now?"

William, standing beside his two older sisters and his grandmother Saturday at A Family Church in Daytona Beach, was one of 93 children who took home special Christmas presents as part of the Angel Tree program, which provides gifts for children whose parents are behind bars.

His mother is incarcerated at Lowell Correctional Institution in Marion County and is scheduled to remain there until January 2012.

"This is a special time for them," grandmother Terry Hixson said, "being able to receive something their mom has sent for them."

The Angel Tree program is part of the nonprofit organization Prison Fellowship, a ministry group founded in 1976 to help rehabilitate prisoners.

At Christmastime, the group offers incarcerated parents a chance to sign up their kids for gifts. Each child gets a toy and new clothes supplied by donors.

William's mother wrote a note on each of her children's gifts, promising them her time in jail is almost over. She sees her kids during visits about once a month, Hixson said.

The Rev. Peter Keirstead said he hoped Saturday's event would help the church connect with at-risk children and their families who might start attending.

"The number of risk factors these kids have in their life is huge," he said. "The odds against them are astronomical when they have a parent incarcerated."

The church is also the hub for the area's Angel Food program, which provides discounted food for poor families. Keirstead said the church hands out 200 baskets of food per month costing about $30 each.

He also said he hopes to find more at-risk children who want to sign up for the church's Camp Destiny, a five-day camp held during Volusia County schools' Spring Break at the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch in Barberville.

The event Saturday included a Christmas play performed by the children of the church and an appearance by Santa Claus.

After he arrived ringing sleigh bells, Santa sat down to visit with the children, some of whom haven't had much contact with their parents since they went to jail.

"It can get kind of emotional when you give a child a gift from their parent they haven't had contact with," said church member Christina Shultz, who said she has been working in the program for the past eight years. "We've had kids with tears streaming because they didn't realize their parent still cared about them."

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