SrA Bradley D Hoffman has posted a request on his site to help with a humanitarian cause in Afghanistan. It sounds like he already has some contacts he personally established in the US but is hoping that we junkies from AS can also spread the word and send goods. Please read his letter and decide if you can help.

Jean from Tampa

Thanks for posting that. I read his email last night and I have some supplies I will send.

Also, here are some other contacts who are currently doing humanitarian missions to orphanages. I believe a couple of the names may have been mentioned on another thread, so I apologize in advance for the redundancy.

Paul Harrison

Miguel Lira

Juan Montoya

Anthony Noah

Jennifer Schuss

Another one is Ramon Gavan.

 Pat

I thought I saw a post on another thread that someone is sending a whole bunch of stuff to Juan Montoya - stuffed animals I think - so I guess I'll have to choose from someone else on your list here, Inky, for the rest of my school supplies.  got a few stll sitting here.

Hi Ann,

Yes, you are correct.  James is sending toys to Juan's group.   The thread is called Yard Sale I believe.

Rosemary

Thank you  Rosemary -  will go read it -  sent xx a package couple of weeks ago so have 3 left. 

Ann

Hi Ann:

I had a lot of school supplies so I ended up splitting them between SrA Bradley Hoffman, who was mentioned on this thread by rivermom. He's got three orphanages in Afghanistan that they're currently supporting. The other half went to Sgt. Christy Prutzman in Kosovo. She says they're pretty desperate for school supplies and any clothing or shoes for the local kids.

Jen

Thanks for the info Jen.  Will check them out.

Ann

Ann,

That would be me.  I boxed the animals and it was too big to send.  Someone gave me the tip to crush the animals and seal them in ziplock bags,  thereby making a lot more items packable in the same space.  I think I'll do that now.

Jas

James,

That is what we did when we had a lot of them donated to us a couple of years ago.  You can even wrap them with tight rubber bands after you get them in the bags to compact them even further and make sure they don't pop open.

Gran

Also, we don't accept really large ones because they are too hard / expensive to ship.

Gran

Hi Jas - Yes I found your thread.  Good idea to squish them.  My husband bought one of those hand held things that vacuum the air out of zip lock bags.  I use that to squish stuff like stuffed animals, etc when I ship them if I need to conserve space.  Haven't had to do it in a while tho.  But can see where it would be a big help if you have a whole bunch like you did.  What a find!  Congrats!

Ann

Almost forgot - someone advised me to send lightweight stuff in one of those boxes that paper comes in from Staples - send it parcel post - cost was close to FRB and I could fit a lot more stuff in than if i used the FRB.  Worked great!  Takes longer to get there but if they're not in a hurry, you get a lot more stuff in the box esp since you're mid country..  Chicago - right?

Thank you Mellie (ASTAN Orphanage thread) for your idea on origami models. 

I have been doing origami for years and have stacks of paper here.  Most packs purchased - one of the chain craft stores carries it - have instruction sheets right in the package with all the folds shown in easy to follow diagrams.  The paper is not very expensive either.  Sounds like a great idea.

With a simple beginners book from one of the local bookstores, the kids could make all kinds of cool stuff, from hanging ornaments to mobiles to finger puppets, etc.

Thanks for posting Mellie.  We have 8 contacts over here supporting 11 different orphanages (if I've counted right).  Great idea.

Ann

Sent Jennifer Schuss a package last month but haven't heard anything, anyone else hear from her?

Ann

I sent Juan between 50 and 60 stuffed animals of various sizes.  Have 2 more boxes on the ready rack with other things.  Single serve antibiotic cream (144),  hydrogen peroxide,  q-tips and fun stuff.  20 more animals yet to package.  I hope he is getting this stuff.