[LordOpie]

The email below was sent to me by a personal friend...

Hi everyone - I have a cousin that is stationed in
Mosul, Iraq. Normally, when he writes the family, he
requests care packages of goodies for him, you
know - important stuff like Beef Jerky, Mt. Dew, etc;
however, this time he's asked that I send school
supplies. He has been working with the schools and
communities his area and says that the schools are
incredibly under supplied. They're trying to teach
children without pens, paper, pencils, crayons, chalk,
chalkboards, etc.; basically none of the essentials
needed to successfully engage kids so that they learn!
Can you imagine kindergarten and first grade without
cutting and pasting anything and everything? Or
trying to learn handwriting without those big pieces
of lined paper that help so much? (although anyone
who's seen my writing might disagree as to how much it
helped!)

Apparently, the supplies that are being sent to Iraq
right now are focusing on the other essentials of
life, food, clean water, generators, etc., and it
might be awhile before they get around to school
stuff. So, I'm going to get together as much as I can
and send it off. But then I thought about it
and realized that perhaps other people would like to
help as well, and, of course, many people can do more
than just one. There's no pressure to
participate, I just want to throw it out there....I'll
be sending a box of school supplies out on June 17, if
anyone would like to purchase some school supplies to
send, you can drop them by desk/home (or let me know
and I'll come pick them up) by the evening of the
16th. Any help would be appreciated and the schools
cover all grades/ages so any supplies would be
welcome.

If you know anyone else that might be interested, feel
free to forward this.

Thanks! Jen