Christmas Party With a Difference : Holidays: The gifts weren’t unusual, but the children receiving them were. This event was for youngsters with a parent in prison.

With candy canes on the tables, a display of red and green balloons reading “Happy Birthday, Jesus,” and a combo pumping out carols, the children’s Christmas party at a Monterey Park church seemed fairly typical.

But there was something missing: parents.

That’s because the party Saturday afternoon at the First Fundamental Bible Church was for children whose parents’ mailing addresses include San Quentin, Soledad and Folsom.

“We try to bring joy to them,” said church member Art Espinoza, an instructor for the Prison Fellowship Ministry, a national evangelical organization aimed at bringing Christianity to inmates and their families. “Most of their parents are gone for anywhere from one to five years, so we’re trying to give them some hope.”

More than 100 children ages 1 to 16 whose parents are imprisoned were invited to the fifth annual Christmas party sponsored by the church’s branch of the Angel Tree program, a family outreach effort of the Fellowship Ministry, which was founded in 1976 by former Watergate felon Charles W. (Chuck) Colson.

The youngsters were treated to hot dogs, holiday cookies, a puppet show, Gospel pamphlets, and the opportunity to write letters and send instant photos to their parents. They also received gifts, ranging from dolls to soccer balls, donated by church members on behalf of the children’s parents.

“We want to show them that their parents love them even if they can’t visit,” said church volunteer Lucy N. Espinoza. “We also don’t want these children to continue in the same pattern as their parents. These are lost children. We want to show them that somebody cares.”

As he ripped open the holiday gift wrapping and found a Los Angeles Raiders’ T-shirt and a basketball inside, Alfredo Camacho, 11, definitely felt somebody cared.

“Oh wow, that’s nice,” the youngster told his aunt, Monica Sanchez, an Eastside resident, who had taken him to the party.

Camacho’s father, a repeat drug offender, has been in state prison for six years and will not be released until 1996, Sanchez said. “This party is a great idea, especially for these kids who need a father,” she added.

“I see my dad once in a while,” Alfredo said, “but I miss him.”

Another party-goer, Robert Figueroa, 15, said he doesn’t know which prison his father, who is serving time on a robbery conviction, is in. “It’s somewhere past Arizona,” said the youngster, who was attending the party with three of his siblings and his foster mother, Jennifer Roncella, who has four children of her own.

“This is fantastic,” Roncella said. “I work with agencies that give parties once a year, but the thing about a church is that it’s here every day for the rest of the year.”

With more than 100,000 inmates in state prisons, the need for programs to serve the youngsters of convicts is immense, said Espinoza. In Southern California alone, Angel Tree branches at various Christian churches assist more than 12,000 youngsters with incarcerated parents, he said.

In addition to giving hope, church pastor Alex Montoya added, the program strives for reality. So Santa Claus, like the kids’ parents, was a no-show.

“We try to keep things as authentic as possible,” the pastor said.

“These children can write to Santa Claus asking for a gift and get nothing. But when they write a letter to their dad and he passes it on, we fulfill the dream and give them that present.”