Students throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have been preparing for Mother's Day this year in a unique and special way --- by helping other kids with mothers in prison to visit their moms.

The annual "Get on the Bus" event marks its fifth year May 7, when some 240 children will board 13 buses to visit three correctional facilities --- Valley State Prison for Women and Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla (in the central San Joaquin Valley), and Ventura Youth Correctional Facility in Camarillo. The young ones will travel with their guardians from as far north as Sacramento and as far south as San Diego.

Five years ago Get on the Bus was launched with nine families from Southern California and one bus. The program's considerable growth has been made possible, in part, through the monetary and in-kind contributions of Catholic school students and confirmation groups throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

"Children understand from a child's perspective what it would be like to not have your mother," said St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Suzanne Jabro, Get on the Bus co-director. "They think this is a great program, and they want to be involved."

Students from Holy Trinity School in San Pedro sold Easter candy and raised $1,500 to sponsor one of the buses. The confirmation group at Santa Clara Church in Oxnard collected another $1,400. Students from St. Lawrence Martyr School in Redondo Beach donated teddy bears. And youth from Loyola High School in Los Angeles will be serving breakfast to children leaving on the Los Angeles bus.

"It would be terrible not being able to talk to your mother, so I'm glad we're helping children visit their mothers," observed Katie Morales of St. Joseph School in Hawthorne, where students collected more than $1,300.

Added Chloe Scognamillo of Holy Trinity School: "I feel I'm helping a child get somewhere important."

Other students have donated backpacks that are being filled with age appropriate toys like crayons, coloring books and electronic games. The games will entertain children traveling on the bus --- some for up to seven hours.

During the prison visit children and their mothers will play games. Toys, rocking chairs, music, books and art materials will be on hand. A photographer will take two Polaroid pictures of child and mother so that each can remember the visit.

"Every child needs a great memory of their mother," noted Kendra Keyes of St. Joseph School. "Even if it is one day, that memory will live forever."

Most of the children on the bus have not have seen their mothers since last year or longer. These young ones are often cared for by grandparents, who because of distance or expense, aren't able to visit the prisons.

Sister Jabro said she has been receiving phone calls from out of state by people wanting to learn how to replicate the program. "Obviously it's an unmet need," she said. "Women told us they never saw their children. We didn't realize just how many didn't see their children."

This year is the first time Get on the Bus is taking children to visit their mothers at the California Youth Authority facility in Camarillo. Young female offenders ages 14-24 who come in pregnant have their babies taken away within 24 hours of giving birth. Get on the Bus is bringing newborns and toddlers from northern California to visit their mothers.

"We're creating a mother-child relationship," said Catherine Conneally-Salazar, Catholic chaplain. "Our whole vision at this facility is to be female responsive. We're looking at the needs of a female [who's locked up]."

In addition to the schools and parishes, the collaborative statewide event has received major support from the women's religious communities and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The archdiocesan Office of Restorative Justice/Detention Ministry provided office space and in-kind services. Interfaith support has come from Lutheran churches and St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles.

More than $75,000 has been raised for this year's event to pay for the buses, meals and activities. And because of cutbacks at prison facilities, Get on the Bus has to pay the costs of having extra prison guards to accommodate the large group.

Once the three-hour prison visits are completed, the goodbyes between a mother and her children can be heart wrenching, said Dominican Sister Catherine Bazar, a Get on the Bus leadership team member.

To ease the transition for the ride back home, Catholic school students have collected teddy bears to be given to each child. A personal letter from their mother will accompany each bear.

Even more important than the bears, the annual event allows children and their guardians to meet other families with mothers in prison and begin to build a community of peer support.

"The big dark secret these children keep is that their mother is in prison," said Sister Bazar. "On this day they can meet other kids like them and share feelings."