For some prisoners at Rikers Island, Christmas came with lots of white stuff - 1,600 pairs of socks, to be exact.
After a holiday prayer service on Christmas Eve, each of the inmates attending was given a wrapped Christmas gift - a pair of socks offered amid a jingle of altar bells and handcuffs on guards' belts.
With prisoners allowed only limited packages in jail, “having somebody give you something for Christmas means a lot,'' said Jose Alberto, a 46-year-old welder serving a yearlong sentence for domestic violence while on crack.
“My Christmas gift was supposed to be a visit from my 2-year-old girl - but she didn't come,'' the Puerto Rico native said. He said that when he gets out in five months, “I pray that God puts the right people on my path. I'm doing the best I can.''
The Christmas socks program at Rikers began seven years ago when Sister Camille D'Arienzo, a Roman Catholic nun living in New York, sent a note to family and friends before her birthday telling them: “If you want to please me, help me help others.''
She called the prison's chaplain, Sister Mary O'Connor, to find out what the inmates there needed. The answer was socks.
The program began with a few hundred pairs of socks, then exploded when a Jersey City, N.J., priest heard about it and appealed to his students, who took on the project for Advent.
Any socks donated that aren't needed at Rikers go to a soup kitchen on Long Island that is run by the Sisters of Mercy, the order to which both O'Connor and D'Arienzo belong.
“People are waiting for an invitation to do something specific that is not overwhelming. Especially at Christmas,'' D'Arienzo said.
Those who contribute socks to the program are sent thank-you notes that read: “One of the most poignant examples Jesus offered was his washing the feet of others, especially those whose lives had not been clean. We may not follow Christ's example exactly, but the socks you sent will warm both feet and hearts of men in prison.''