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Columbia, S.C. (WACH) -- South Carolina inmates will receive a Christmas package from church members.

The nearly 22,000 prisoners housed at the State Department of Corrections will each receive a package for Christmas.

Members of the Southern Baptist Convention, the South Carolina Women's Missionary Union and churches across the state have collected items for prisoners.

The packages include things like pens, notepads, envelops and toiletries.

Everyday items that may seem simple to some mean a lot more to others.

"Sometimes it's the only gift they get at Christmas and to be remembered and to have people they don't even know show them love by giving I think it means a lot, " said Ann Dawson, volunteer.

Chaplin Reid White admits that the prisoners have made mistakes but says that everyone is deserving.

"They are still God's children regardless of the fact that they are incarcerated but they are still God's children he loves them he loves us," said State Department of Corrections Chaplin Reid White.