We Catholics are a people of HOPE. We invite you to share hope with children who are separated - through no fault of their own - with an incarcerated parent. These children are the unintended victims of crime. They carry feelings of abandonment, shame, and fear that strip them of hope.

We invite you to help local children Get On The Bus to visit their fathers and/or mothers in prison. There are many ways you can help (see the donation list and volunteer form on this page). 

Each parish-sponsored bus costs $5,000. THANK YOU for donating!  

If you wish to donate funds by check, please make your check out to Holy Name of Jesus (write G.O.T.B. in the memo area). You may drop it in the offertory basket during Mass or mail it to the parish office:

The Holy Name of Jesus Parish
Get On The Bus Fund
115 W. Olive Ave
Redlands, CA 92373

We will gladly accept online donations to fund our parish-sponsored bus. Merely click on the link below to support this ministry!
Thank you!

Get on the Bus is a non-profit organization that provides children with assistance and transportation to visit their mothers or their fathers who are in prison in California.

There are over 200,000 children in California with a parent in prison; and, that HALF of them have never even met their imprisoned parent. Do you know a child in this situation? Maybe not, but you may know the grandparents, aunts, or uncles who are raising them.
 
Get on the Bus helps the children not feel forgotten, as they are the unintended victims of crime. Some of them feel guilt and shame, and these visits help alleviate some of their anxiety. But this program not only helps the children, it helps the men and the women who are incarcerated… by giving them hope and the desire to rehabilitate.
 
In collaboration with Our Lady of Hope in San Bernardino, the Holy Name of Jesus Parish is sponsoring TWO BUSES in MAY 2019 that will transport children from our area to visit their fathers OR their mothers who are incarcerated. Here are some details about this trip: 

The families will leave our parking lot around midnight, and will stop at a church for a welcoming breakfast before going to the prison. Busses from all over California will meet there. The children (along with a parent, grandparent, or guardian) will spend the day with their fathers before coming home late the following night.

The parish will provide each person a sack meal for the bus trip. Each child will receive a Travel Bag that consists of books and activities for the long trip, and a teddy bear for the emotional ride home. Upon returning, each child will receive a Stay Connected Bag that consists of stationery, envelopes, and postage that they can use to write letters to their fathers. 

THANK YOU for your generous gifts of time and money that make this trip possible. Without your support, the families we serve would be unable to make the trip to San Luis Obispo, so Thank You for reuniting families… and THANK YOU for giving them HOPE!

We are collecting specific items for the Travel Bags and the Stay Connected Bags. All items must be NEW since they may be taken into the prison facility.
Choose an item below and bring it to Stations and Soup Suppers on Fridays, April 5 or 12!

FOR THE BUS RIDE 
Pens, Pencils, Crayons, Colored Pencils, Gel Pens
Coloring / Sticker / Activity Books
Puzzle or Brain Teaser Books
Decks of Playing Cards, UNO
Board Games - Connect 4, Battleship, Travel Chess/Checkers, Chutes & Ladders 
Comic Books for Boys
Journals, Teen Magazines, Books for Teens
Small hand sanitzers
Kleenex-on-the-go packets
Lip Gloss / Lip Balm

FOR STAYING CONNECTED AFTER THE TRIP
Notecards or Stationery with Envelopes
Postage stamps
Disposable Cameras
Wal-Mart gift cards in small denominations (for processing film)

THANK YOU for helping local kids Get On The Bus!