Afghan Children Project

I've had so many people asking what is needed over in Afghanistan, so below are the 2 emails I've received from Justin. If you know anyone who's interested (but, for some unknown reason, doesn't follow my blog religiously ;), please pass this information along.

My family will be taking on the school supply project for the kids in the women's prison, but if you have school supplies sitting around, feel free to donate them. Like Justin says, they are working with several different schools & orphanages, so anything we send will be used.

As for the clothing/shoe list for the orphanages, anyone's welcome to clean out their closet on us! My family will be sorting/organizing/packaging everything at our family Christmas party on Dec. 27th. It would be great if I had everything by then. Feel free to drop things off at my house (call first to make sure I'm there :), or I can try to pick things up if you need me to...just let me know. Leave me a comment if you need my address or phone number.

Some of you have asked whether to send cash donations to me or Justin. He isn't able to get most of these things over there, so send them to me & we will use it for anything that's missing, or we feel we have the greatest need for after we've collected everything. We may also use cash for shipping expenses, depending on what kind of deal we are able to work out.

Lastly, for those of you who aren't local and have closets to clean out :), you can send your donations directly to Justin at...

LT Justin Jones
ARSIC-W, Herat
JMOC
APO AE 09354

Just put a note in the box telling him it's for the Afghan Children Project, although I'm pretty sure he'll assume it's not for him. :) And remember to use a flat-rate military box from the post office. The boxes are free and it's $10.95 to ship, regardless of the weight. If you have clothes to send, you can fit more if you put them in a garbage bag and suck the air out with your vacuum. Be sure to tape it up good though, so it doesn't explode if the air sneaks back in. Yes...I've had some packing experience. Justin refers to me as the Master Packer.

Hmmmm...have I covered it all? Let me know if you have any questions. Again, thank you so much for supporting this. This has already been such a great experience for our family...I hope it is for yours as well!

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Here is a list of what is most needed at the Women's prison for the kids:

1) Colored paper
2) White paper
3) Crayons
4) Colored pencils
5) Markers
6) Glue sticks
7) Regular pencils
8) Safety scissors
9) Pencil Sharpeners (not electric, just the little hand ones)
10) Back packs
11) Scotch Tape

Really any school type supplies would be useful. There are about 50 kids at the prison.

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I spoke with the HA (humanitarian assistance) people here on base. They have projects with a lot of schools and orphanages.

Here are some things that would be helpful:

Shoes, socks (newborn - 12/13)
Clothes, pajamas (again, newborn - 12/13)
Winter stuff--hats, gloves, coats, etc.
Toys are fine but not top priority.
Hygiene stuff is always good--toothpaste/brushes, soap, etc.

Really, anything is helpful. They have a lot of projects and things will get used no matter what is sent. If more people want to send school supplies, they have lots of school type of projects. We can use stuff for the prison and for schools.





good things...

1. helping my kids see that the world is bigger than our neighborhood
2. being able to SEE Justin's face everyday (he finally got his web cam)
3. movie night with my kids