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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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Posted on 10/14/2003 9:27:48 AM PDT by TomB
A Utah soldier's instinctive reaction to help a child in Iraq has blossomed into a national toy donation drive for the children of that war-torn country.
Operationgive.org began last month, after "Chief Wiggles" — a member of the Utah National Guard stationed in Iraq, who maintains a Web-based journal, chiefwiggles.blog-city.com/; posted a description of his touching encounter with an Iraqi girl.
He said he saw a little girl crying outside the barbed wire fence by the front gate of the former palace where he works. Her mother, who had only one leg, had hobbled inside to talk to someone.
"She was obviously very poor, in her tattered old dress, totally worn out plastic flip-flops, her hair matted against her head indicating she hadn't had a bath in a long time and her skin blistered from the dirt and weather," wrote Chief Wiggles, whose real name is withheld for security reasons.
"Once I saw her I quickly told the MPs to move the barbed wire back to let her in to join her mother. Her crying stopped as she darted in to grab ahold of her mother's long black dishdasha, torn and frayed from years of use."
Wiggles went to his office and found some toys and necessities. He brought them back to the little girl and her mother. Through an interpreter, he explained about using one of the gifts, a toothbrush, every day. He also gave her a whistle and a toy monkey.
"Her eyes lit up with such joy as I put the monkey arms over her head. She was so excited to receive everything, being somewhat shy though, not having dealt with an American before," he wrote.
The day after that posting, about 1,000 e-mail messages flooded in to the chief's Web site, said Scott Evensen, a Provo friend who maintains the site. The notes asked, "Where can we send toys?"
The result was Operationgive.org. Hundreds of boxes of toys and necessities were shipped to Iraq's children. So many toys were sent that distribution difficulties cropped up and the shipments had to be temporarily halted.
"We should have an address for shipments this week," Evensen said. Meanwhile, for information about how to donate money for the drive, check the Internet site at operationgive.org.
Backers have lined up warehouse space and volunteers will operate the warehouse, located in Baltimore. They have also made arrangements to ship the material to Kuwait at about $3,500 per shipping container, each of which may hold in the neighborhood of 800 to 1,000 boxes, Evensen said.
Chief Wiggles is arranging for a container to be sent from Kuwait to Baghdad, where he has been able to obtain warehouse space, he added.
As of Sunday, more than 500 boxes had been delivered to the chief.
Evensen said orphanages asked for school material and underwear, and these are being forwarded also.
Internet commentator Dean Esmay, a volunteer in Detroit, said that in one week, the Iraq end of the pipeline received more than 200 boxes of toys and $21,000 in donations.
A lawyer has been setting up a nonprofit corporation to handle the contributions, he added.
Evensen wrote in an e-mail to the Deseret Morning News saying that on Monday, Chief Wiggles was "visiting a 300-bed children's hospital in Baghdad. The Army is sending a film crew along."
The toy drive has drawn so much interest that an English newspaper plans to visit Chief Wiggles next week in Iraq and MSNBC is planning a special report on him, he added.
One of Chief Wiggles' most ardent supporters is Gail S. Halvorsen, the Spanish Fork man who became known as the "Candy Bomber" and "Uncle Wiggly Wings" when he dropped candy to the children of post-World War II Berlin, 55 years ago.
"I'm 100 percent for it," Halvorsen said of the chief's drive. "I'm Uncle Wiggly Wings and he's Chief Wiggles. . . . I think it's a marvelous thing he's doing."
A great antidote to the quagmire stories coming out of Iraq.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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Mr. R., no direct links. O.K.?
Monday, Chief Wiggles was "visiting a 300-bed children's hospital in Baghdad. The Army is sending a film crew along."
The toy drive has drawn so much interest that an English newspaper plans to visit Chief Wiggles next week in Iraq and MSNBC is planning a special report on him, he added.
Chief winning hearts and minds worldwide, ping!
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