On Saturday, February 7th, 2009, 22 Park University People to People members volunteered at the Operation Iraqi Children warehouse in Kansas City.
This humanitarian activity is part of People to People Chapter activities at Park University.
Operation Iraqi Children is a grass-roots program founded in early 2004 by actor Gary Sinise and author Laura Hillenbrand. Sinise and Hillenbrand created OIC to give concerned Americans a way to reach out to war-stricken Iraqi children and support American troops in their efforts to assist them. Since its inception, OIC has delivered over 200,000 school supply kits to Iraq, along with more than half a million toys and thousands of Arabic-language books, shoes, blankets, backpacks and sets of sports equipment, all of which have been distributed to Iraqi children by American troops.
The PTPI team, led by Simona Cibotaru, PTPI Board of Trustees member and Amiran Gelashvili, Park University PTPI chapter president, put together1,368 packages, each containing school kits, during just three hours of volunteer work. The boxes will be ready to be shipped to Iraq and Afghanistan this upcoming week. Park University People to People Chapter student members are planning another visit to the OIC warehouse in order to put together more school kits for Iraqi children. Students anticipate the event becoming a Park University tradition with a once a month visit to the OIC warehouse. On Saturday, March 7th, 2009 we will organize another visit to the Operation Iraqi Children warehouse in Kansas City.
The Park University People to People Chapter focuses on multicultural understanding and awareness of values of different cultures through connections between local and international student populations, businesses, community, and community organizations. This organization meets regularly and provides a number of programs to Park University - Parkville campus. To join PTPI or participate in this great volunteering program, please contact Simona Cibotaru, at the Office of International Affairs and Education at (816) 584-6830 or e-mail scibotaru@park.edu.
Written by Simona Cibotaru
