Kiwanis Operation Backpack
Summary
Report - 8/15/08
The
Kiwanis Club of Williamsburg sponsored Kiwanis
Operation Backpack in response to a request
by our soldiers serving in Iraq to help with
their project of providing school supplies to
the children in that war torn country.
The
project was initiated on 1/23/08 after approval
by our board of directors. Since that time over
75 members of our club made financial contributions,
along with 9 other Kiwanis clubs from the district,
19 non-club members and 1 church. Donations
in school supplies were made by our business
partner, Staples. We received a Gift Certificate
from Wal-Mart. Discount pricing on products
we purchased from Tom Jordan through Creative
Specialty Promotions, 200 Beanie Babies from
Ray Adams, leftover toys from the Virginia Arts
Festival, several Tee Shirt donations from members
and a generous article in the Virginia Gazette.
Several
members gave of their time in shopping, picking
up supplies, packing back packs, packing cases
of supplies, and transporting packages to the
post office. Thanks to Dan Worstal and the builders
club at Walsingham for stuffing backpacks. Special
thanks to Martha, Penny, Kit, Rolf, Doug, Larry,
Jim, Oscar, David, Daniel and all those who
helped make this a success.
As
of August 15, 2008 we have:
Collected $9,653.00
Spent $9,350.91
- Shipped
over 110 cases of school supplies to our soldiers
in Iraq to distribute to the children of Hit,
Iraq and Ninewa Provence, Iraq.
- Provided
360 backpacks and 200 book bags filled with
school supplies.
- Sent
4 cases of playground equipment to 4 schools,
including soccer balls, volley balls, rubber
playground balls, Frisbees, chalk, and jump
ropes.
- Supplied
over 500 Tee Shirts.
- Served
over 150 service hours to make this project
happen.
This
project is truly a win/win. We helped our soldiers
serving on our behalf to complete a mission
that they undertook and for which they requested
help. We helped facilitate education to 560
children who will remember that Americans and
American soldiers made their life better.
Kiwanis
is a global organization of volunteers dedicated
to changing the world, one child and one community
at a time.the Kiwanis Club of Williamsburg and
our partners have accomplished that goal. Congratulations
to all who supported the effort with you money,
your time and your labor.
Respectfully
Submitted,
Wade
Quinn DC, Project Chairman
Kiwanis Operation Backpack
Dear Wade,
Three days ago a large container arrived of
school supplies and backpacks from Kiwanis International,
and others. Amongst the boxes was a letter from
you to Chaplain Steve Mills dated January 31,
2008, with an inventory of the supplies. They
have finally arrived!
Today our Provincial Reconstruction Team did
a preliminary inventory. There were other organizations
that evidently contributed to the containers
contents. The shipment is extremely timely for
our efforts. In the next day or two a platoon
of Marines will form an assembly line to insure
that each backpack has basic school supplies.
We will then organize a donation in one of the
underserved communities in the area, which includes
Haditha, Barwanah, Hit and others. There are
large numbers of orphans and internally displaced
peoples in the vicinity. They will be very grateful
for the generosity of your community. The final
donation will hopefully take place within the
next week or two. We will send you photos.
As you may know, Anbar Province had previously
been the center of insurgent and terrorist activity
in Iraq. Now it is a location of relative peace
in which the local community is building back
their lives and finally looking forward to a
brighter future.
Please pass along our sincere best wishes and
thanks to the Kiwanis community for assisting
our efforts to build goodwill and assist the
people of Anbar Province.
Bob Kerr
Anbar Province, ePRT3
Team Leader
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