OIC School Supply Kits Checklist

Welcome! Thank you for your support! Please review these instructions carefully before sending your contribution of School Supply Kits.

Interaction between soldiers and Iraqi children A message from co-founder Gary Sinise, "Operation Iraqi Children is a wonderful way for the people of the U.S. to help the children of Iraq and by doing so we are helping our soldiers who are working so hard over there. It will promote goodwill between our two peoples and help in the rebuilding effort there. I started a project to send school supplies to Iraq because I saw a tremendous need for them when I visited one of the schools and became aware that this was the norm for most of the schools in Iraq. I also saw a beautiful interaction between our soldiers and the Iraqi children.

The kids I saw on my second trip to Iraq with Wayne Newton in November of 2003 were loving our soldiers and so grateful to them for having liberated them from Saddam Hussein. It was a tremendous feeling to see these children hugging and kissing our soldiers, cheering them with the thumbs up sign and in broken English saying, "I love you!" They were so welcoming of us and it was a great moment when the principal took us into his office, a room that was no bigger then a janitor's closet, and there on the wall was a plaque that was dedicated to the Coalition Forces for giving them their freedom. He had it made especially to thank the soldiers who had helped to rebuild his school. And this was not much of a school compared to the schools here in the U.S., believe me. But it was so much better than what they had before our soldiers got there."

Gary with schoolchildren ORGANIZING AN EFFORT:

Get the word out!  Remember that while the vast majority of our donated kits are sent to children in Iraq, some are sent to equally needy children in Afghanistan and Djibouti, where American troops are working hard to improve their quality of life. Feel free to print and make copies of this flyer or create your own flyers explaining the mission of this collaborative project and asking students, parents, and organization members to participate.  Set a deadline for the collection of materials and include the Kit assembly instructions below.  Establish a central collection area where items will be sorted, boxed and labeled. Ask that donors bring in tape and sturdy shipping boxes. Banana boxes, available from your local grocery, or paper boxes from an office supply store or your school both work well. Copies of this Donor Information Sheet should be included with your donation.

SHIPPING:

Thanks to our alliance with FedEx and People to People International, donors no longer have to pay the high charges for shipment all the way to Iraq.  Now, donors can ship school supply kits to the OIC Warehouse in Kansas City, where they will be inventoried, packed and prepared for international transport. 

While this lowers shipping costs dramatically, donors are still responsible for covering the costs of shipping from location to the OIC Warehouse in Kansas City. To raise funds for shipping, be creative.  You can arrange for a bake sale, start a coin drive, or ask that every participant donate a few dollars to help cover the cost.  It is impossible to determine exact shipping costs in advance, but to get a ballpark figure, contact your mailing service.

BUILDING SCHOOL SUPPLY KITS:

The most efficient and effective way to help Iraqi children is to create School Supply Kits which will be distributed to each student. Each Kit contains basic, badly-needed items that can make a world of difference to a child heading to school.  Assembling standardized Kits ensures that each child receives the same number of the most needed items, facilitates customs clearance, and relieves our volunteers and soldiers of the time-consuming and labor intensive process of sorting and allocating random donated items.  Kits are wildly popular among Iraqis, who often request them.

Assemble each Kit according to the following list of items.  Please enclose NO additional items and be sure that all items are new and unused.  Each Kit should contain:

 

OIC SCHOOL SUPPLY KIT:

  •  One pair of blunt-end scissors
  •  One 12-inch ruler with metric markings
  •  12 new pencils with erasers
  •  One small pencil sharpener
  •  One large eraser
  •  One box of colored pencils (Crayons melt in the Iraqi summer heat!)
  •  One package of notebook paper
  •  One composition book
  •  Three folders with inside pockets
  •  One zippered pencil bag

Pack only the listed supplies in a 2-gallon sized zipper seal plastic bag.

If you would also like to send sports equipment or stuffed animals, please feel free to do so. Appropriate sports equipment might be soccer balls, jump ropes, and frisbees. Please send all balls deflated for air-transport and include a small hand pump for re-inflating. We do accept a number of items other than Kits: Our current urgent-need list includes: blankets, backpacks, shoes and tarps.

Please use discretion in choosing your supplies, sports equipment, and stuffed animals. Avoid items that are religious, depict war or conflict, or are strongly gender or age specific. Please be sensitive to the fact that you are sending items into a culture less exposed to television and video games, and under emotional strain.

 

Iraqi boy gives the thumbs up PACKING INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Print or the Donor Information Sheet, complete it and send it with each shipment.  If you want to include pictures of, or stories about your groups effort, please do! Send the information to OIC at oicinfo@ptpi.org.
  • Assemble each kit in a backpack or zipper seal bag.  Please enclose no additional items.
  • Use sturdy boxes. Banana boxes work well, but a piece of cardboard or a paper grocery bag will need to be taped over the hole in the top and bottom before shipping.
  • Along with your donations, you may enclose a letter or set of letters from you, your school or your organization to the soldiers who will deliver your packages or to the Iraqi children who will receive them.  You may include photos, or your group assembling packages, and suggest that the soldiers or children send back their own pictures and letters.
  • Do not include any full names or addresses on the letters or pictures.
  • If you have requested a response from the soldiers or Iraqi children, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Recipients of OIC supplies have been instructed to send replies to donors directly to the OIC Warehouse. We will forward these responses using the provided envelope.
  • Please do not enclose religious or political materials.
  • Be sure that all boxes are securely taped. 
  • In clear, bold writing, address each package to:

Operation Iraqi Children

c/o Fast Pace Distribution

6200 E. St. John Ave.

Kansas City, MO  64123

USA

  • If you have further questions, please contact the OIC Warehouse at 816.241.7321 or OICWarehouse@ptpi.org.

 

SEND US FEEDBACK!

We want to hear from you!  Please let us know the total number of kits that your group sent.  If you hear back from troops or the recipients your packages, please share their stories with us.  It is important for us to share the good news from Iraq, so send us all the information on the process of your program. Please e-mail us at OICInfo@ptpi.org with your stories.

PLEASE NOTE: In order to conform to regulations governing humanitarian assistance, meet customs requirements, and ensure positive impact of the assistance provided, the collaborating partners reserve the right to refuse inappropriate product. In the unlikely event that circumstances beyond our control should prevent the continued shipment of these supplies to Iraq, a statement explaining the situation will be made to the public.

 

Gary entertaining the troops in Iraq

Please include your contact information so we can reach you!

On behalf of Operation Iraqi Children,

Thank you,

Gary Sinise and Laura Hillenbrand