Basketball camp in Garfield Park brings joy to kids of incarcerated parents

CHICAGO (WGN) – A basketball camp in Garfield Park delivered not only fun, but sportsmanship as well.

More than 250 children of incarcerated parents attended the Prison Fellowship Angel Tree Basketball Camp on Saturday.

Prison Fellowship, a Virginia-based Christian nonprofit, serves people behind bars and their families.

Members of Hope Academy’s football team were also on hand, helping guide the children.

What was going on at the Hope Student Athletics Center was about more than sports.

“Having a parent who is incarcerated is often a very lonely journey because there’s so much stigma attached to it, and so you don’t talk about it and so you internalize a lot of things. So these kids carry a lot of burdens,” Betsy Wright of Prison Fellowship said. “When we can bring them all together, we give them a safe space to know that, ‘Hey, there’s other kids just like me,’ and that kind of lifts the burden a little bit.”

Former NBA player Brandon Johnson was also on hand and can relate. He also served time for his role in a sports betting scheme.

“My mom was incarcerated when I was in the third grade,” Johnson said. “The trauma that it leads during that time to not have your parents, to not have the person that you love and adore, it’s impactful…just give them faith. Hey listen, I went through so many different things, but do not let this moment define your future in a sense.”