Students in the Al-Jasmine Primary School in the Mustansyria neighborhood show off school supplies donated by McDonalds Corporation and the citizens of New Ulm, Minn.
Posted on 01/30/2004 8:25:51 PM PST by saquin
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 29, 2004 — As on any day in Baghdad, the sun rose on the students of the Al-Jasmine primary school located in the neighborhood of Mustansyria. But on this bright day, the students were in for a big surprise.
It was 10:30 in the morning Jan. 26 and as the children were standing quietly in the back yard of the school preparing for the last day of examinations, U.S. Army appeared.
About a dozen soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team including some from 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, arrived with loads of school supplies for the children of Al-Jasmine.
Soldiers enlisted the help of a disabled student in a wheelchair to distribute hundreds of backpacks loaded with school supplies of all types, to include pencils, crayons, copybooks, erasers, and much other needed material.
McDonalds Corporation donated more than $6,000 worth (100 cases) of crayons and the citizens of New Ulm, Minn., added nearly $10,000 worth of other supplies to the cause.
The supplies were mailed directly to the “Ready First” Brigade and its commander, Col. Peter Mansoor, arranged for the distribution to schools like Al-Jasmine in the Rusafa district.
The charity event began with a speech from Lieutenant Colonel Sexton, as he commented, “We would like you to be our kids for a few moments, because we miss our families back home and consider all Iraqi children as members of our extended family” said Lt. Col. Chuck Sexton, 1-36 Infantry commander. “So please except our gifts.”
“These school supplies are important to us because you children represent the future of Iraq,” Mansoor told the students. “Use them for learning, use them with our best wishes, use them in peace.”
The supplies are not gifts from the U.S. Government, he said. “(They are) from your friends in the McDonald’s corporation, the people of New Ulm, Minnesota, and from many of our friends and families in the United States.”
Mansoor said that organizations and individuals in the United States asked how they could help the Iraqi children. He said his reply was to “send school supplies for the kids - they are eager to learn but lack a great deal of support.”
Sexton said that he was very happy to give the children these gifts, for when he is amongst the children, he feels at peace and far away from military matters.
These contributions were but a simple gift, but they symbolize a tremendous amount of caring and commitment extended and expressed by all Americans towards the Iraqi people, he said.
Students in the Al-Jasmine Primary School in the Mustansyria neighborhood show off school supplies donated by McDonalds Corporation and the citizens of New Ulm, Minn.
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