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Toys Donated to Oklahoma City Memorial Leaving Denver for Iraqi Children
July 30, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DENVER -- Children in Iraq traumatized by years of a brutal regime and the recent war will soon receive 1,000 stuffed animals and dolls courtesy of the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
The toys will be added to a shipment of relief supplies for Iraqi families and children from World Vision, an international Christian humanitarian organization. The items will leave Denver on Thursday, July 30 and will be transported, via truck and cargo ship, and are scheduled to arrive at World Vision’s office September 25, in Amman, Jordan. From there, they will be trucked into Iraq. Relief supplies include: clothing, medical supplies, toys, and personal hygiene products.
“Stuffed animals are universal,” says Elaine Bole, a World Vision spokesperson, who just returned from Iraq. “There are no social, political, or religious boundaries. Iraqi children will love them as much as an American child would.”
“We are calling this project ‘I Am Hope’,” said Kari Watkins, the Oklahoma City memorial’s executive director. “As part of our ongoing mission of outreach and education, it is important that we send the Memorial’s message of hope to others who have suffered losses to political violence.”
The shipment includes toys left at the memorial since 1995. Each toy includes a tag, in English and Arabic, explaining the Oklahoma City bombing and noting that “(W)e do not know who left this toy…We want you to have it now . . . and to know that we care. From Oklahoma City, with love.”
World Vision currently is rebuilding schools and health care clinics, along with distributing relief supplies, food and medical supplies.
CONTACTS: mediainfo@worldvision.org
