Utah soldier leads toy drive

A Utah soldier's instinctive reaction to help a child in Iraq has blossomed into a national toy donation drive for the children of that war-torn country.

Operationgive.org began last month, after "Chief Wiggles" — a member of the Utah National Guard stationed in Iraq, who maintains a Web-based journal, chiefwiggles.blog-city.com/; posted a description of his touching encounter with an Iraqi girl.

He said he saw a little girl crying outside the barbed wire fence by the front gate of the former palace where he works. Her mother, who had only one leg, had hobbled inside to talk to someone.

"She was obviously very poor, in her tattered old dress, totally worn out plastic flip-flops, her hair matted against her head indicating she hadn't had a bath in a long time and her skin blistered from the dirt and weather," wrote Chief Wiggles, whose real name is withheld for security reasons.

"Once I saw her I quickly told the MPs to move the barbed wire back to let her in to join her mother. Her crying stopped as she darted in to grab ahold

of her mother's long black dishdasha, torn and frayed from years of use."

Wiggles went to his office and found some toys and necessities. He brought them back to the little girl and her mother. Through an interpreter, he explained about using one of the gifts, a toothbrush, every day. He also gave her a whistle and a toy monkey.

"Her eyes lit up with such joy as I put the monkey arms over her head. She was so excited to receive everything, being somewhat shy though, not having dealt with an American before," he wrote.

The day after that posting, about 1,000 e-mail messages flooded in to the chief's Web site, said Scott Evensen, a Provo friend who maintains the site. The notes asked, "Where can we send toys?"

The result was Operationgive.org. Hundreds of boxes of toys and necessities were shipped to Iraq's children. So many toys were sent that distribution difficulties cropped up and the shipments had to be temporarily halted.

"We should have an address for shipments this week," Evensen said. Meanwhile, for information about how to donate money for the drive, check the Internet site at operationgive.org.

Backers have lined up warehouse space and volunteers will operate the warehouse, located in Baltimore. They have also made arrangements to ship the material to Kuwait at about $3,500 per shipping container, each of which may hold in the neighborhood of 800 to 1,000 boxes, Evensen said.

Chief Wiggles is arranging for a container to be sent from Kuwait to Baghdad, where he has been able to obtain warehouse space, he added.

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