BEYOND THE IRAQ of political news and of counterinsurgency is a population and a civil society, trying to right itself after decades of dictatorship, followed by war. Two Americans helping them do it are actor Gary Sinise and Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit, who found an imaginative way to help children. Here is Laura’s story of how it all came about:
“Gary and I came up with similar ideas separately, then joined forces. In the fall of 2003, Gary went on a USO tour of Iraq, and was taken through local schools. He was stunned at the squalor: kids were trying to learn in sweltering, windowless, one-room shacks with loose animals walking through and defecating on the floors. There were so few school supplies available that groups of kids were sharing single pencils or pieces of paper. They had virtually no books. Gary was horrified. He went home and got his kids’ school to do a school-supply drive for the Iraqi children. It was then that he began thinking about creating an organization to enable Americans to get school supplies to troops.
“At almost the same time, I received an email from an Army officer in Iraq, Lt. Col. Sherman McCrew, who wrote to tell me how he had taken my book along with him on a trip to give medical care to kids at an Iraq school. The children took a great interest in the book, so through a translator he told them the story of Seabiscuit. Horse racing has an ancient history in Iraq, and the children were rapt. Lt. Col. McGrew took photographs of the kids holding the book and crowding around him. He sent them, along with a letter telling me about the appalling conditions in which Iraqi kids were schooled. When I saw the photographs and read about the children, I was so moved that I wept. Lt. Col. McGrew and I began brainstorming about how to get Arabic language editions of my book to Iraqi kids, through American troops.
“In my effort to make this happen, I was put in contact with an Army officer, who was eager to help. She told me that she had just been put in touch with Gary Sinise, who wanted to create a similar program. She got me in touch with Gary, and we clicked immediately. We decided to create Operation Iraqi Children. We launched the program in April of 2004. Our mission is to bring school supplies to Iraqi kids, and in doing so to foster goodwill between coalition troops and Iraqi civilians. In this, the program has been a huge success.
“Those who don’t have the time to construct school supply kits can donate money, which we use to purchase school supplies. Most people construct their kits, assembled according to instructions on our website, and send them to our warehouse in Kansas City, MO, which is maintained by our partner organization, People to People International. The kits are organized into pallets and are sent on to Iraq by FedEx, which donates the shipping. In Iraq, they are picked up by coalition troops, who distribute them around the country. We have reached more than a quarter of a million kids throughout Iraq. Along with school supply kits, we also send sports equipment (soccer balls are a huge hit), blankets, toys, and other items. We are in the process of shipping the Arabic translations of Seabiscuit over there now.”
In the holiday spirit, I urge all fans of Gary Sinise and of Seabiscuit, (which ought to be everyone), to log on to operationiraqichildren.org, and donate as much as you can.
Noemie Emery is a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard.
