Cornfield fireflies light the way to Telford Prison Ministries

Telford staff, inmates and families blessed for more than two decades

By Kenny Mitchell

“Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.”

Those words, found in Psalms 40:5, are the words that guide Telford Prison Ministries and its leader and heart, Edna Walker.

Telford Prison Ministries has been serving the prison and both the inmates housed there and the staff for more than two decades, with a variety of ministries to answer the needs of all involved.

Walker speaks of her early days at the ministry with the opening of the Samaritan House in May of 2003. The Samaritan House was the ministry’s first place where those visiting a loved one in the prison could stay overnight instead of having to stay at a hotel. It was located in old government housing and became a home away from home for countless families over the years.

In March of 2016, the ministry saw the opening of its new overnight facility, known as Haven of Hope.

Walker says that Haven of Hope is operated much like a Motel 6, with rooms for those coming into New Boston to visit their loved ones housed at Telford. The facility includes a common area where visitors are able to enjoy a continental breakfast on weekend mornings. In May of 2024, the ministry added a family room to enhance the stay of families that use the facility.

One of the biggest additions to Telford Prison Ministries came in August of 2005, when they opened their visitation center at the entrance of the prison.

Walker says that the visitation center has become a place where the families of inmates have found a place for someone to listen and talk to where they have the ear of someone who isn’t judgmental about the reason for their visit to Telford.

The visitation center has become a priceless witnessing tool for the ministry as it is a place where the can hand out Bibles of all kinds, for adults and children alike, and even those in Spanish for the many visitors who can’t speak English.

The VC is also one of the premier places where children can be ministered to, as Walker and others hand out not just Bibles, but candy, school supplies, backpacks and goody bags.

The ministry has given out school supplies for 875 children, including allowing them to pick from a wide variety of backpacks, with the most sought after pack this year coming with a Bluey theme.

Children love the goody bags they get on a visit, commonly known as “love packs” that ziplock bags filled with candy, crackers, a drink and a Gospel tract.

Children of inmates have also been blessed with Christmas gifts each year, with the most common now being gift cards, so they can buy what they want when they return home from their visit.

Telford Prison Ministries also host many special events throughout the year including Day with Dads, where kids get to spend a “normal” day with their dad, while enjoying pizza, chips and snacks. The day also brings the opportunity for many to have a catch or enjoy a game of basketball with their dad, something that many would never get to experience otherwise.

Other special events include Day With Moms, Family Day, Mother’s Day and Christmas, with each special day involving a chance for families to enjoy a meal and time to visit outside of the normal visitation room insider the prison walls.

Walker and her many volunteers also host special events for prison staff including a special buffet meal at Christmas, a lunch during officer appreciation week, and a benevolence ministry that sends flowers and whatever else might be needed for prison officers and staff who have experienced the loss of a loved one.

They also hand out over 3,000 bags of candy to prison inmates every year at Christmas.

One of the more recent outreaches for the ministry has seen them go into the hospice ward of the prison and offer solace to those who spend their days in a windowless building while dealing with a terminal illness. As many as 91 inmates have been visited on a single visit to the hospice building.

The hospice outreach began last September and Walker states that local pastor Robert Little will go into the building and sing Happy Birthday and bring cake on appropriate days, with many of the inmates noting that they had not enjoyed cake for as long as 30 years.

One inmate told Walker that he saved the paper plates used for the cake because it was the only thing they had that was added any color to their life. Walker began only buying the colorful paper plates following that conversation.

Walker says her reason for doing all that she does is relatively simple. “I have always been mission minded. After I went through one of the worst things in my life when my husband divorced me, I took an Experiencing God class in church. Prison ministry kept coming up and then I went on a mission trip in 1999, and the Lord told me that this is what he wanted me to do full time. I couldn’t even speak so I just walked out of the motel room and kept walking until I ended up in a cornfield. I asked God for a sign, a neon sign, and millions of fireflies flew up into the sky in that cornfield. That was my neon sign.”

Walker was working in full-time prison ministry in Huntsville when local New Boston pastor Ken Cox asked if she would come and help him get something started.

Cox says of Walker, “She truly loves the people who come and stay with us at Haven of Hope. She becomes friends with them, and they will call her when they aren’t visiting. She becomes family with them. Edna works with her heart. You cannot find someone like her. She is called to what she does. She loves those inmates and they really love her. That is a special quality of her that only God can give.”