Air Guard helps students donate clothing to Iraqi kids

by Staff Sgt. Rebecca Kenyon
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, April 3, 2008

A group of Holy Ghost students present 107th ARW, New York Air National Guard, members with some of the clothes they collected for needy children in Iraq on March 26. Deployed members of the 107th security forces will distribute the clothing. Front row, from left, are Alyssa, Ben, Luke Wish, Amanda, Ellen; second row, Alicia, Vishel, Lexi, Stephanie, Keonte, Jessica; back row, Tech. Sgt. Chris Zastrow, Lt. Col. Deanna Miller, Sharleen, Stephen, Master Sgt. Bryan Lange. (photo by Staff Sgt. Rebecca Kenyon, 107th Air Refueling Wing)

Clothing collected by students at Holy Ghost Lutheran School in Wheatfield will be distributed to needy Iraqi kids by members of the New York Air National Guard who are stationed outside Baghdad.

For two weeks, students at the school collected more than 30 large bags of clothes for children who live on the other side of the world, children they will probably never know, but children who they heard are in need. It all started when Christine Lange read an e-mail sent from the 107th Air Refueling Wing Family Support Center that announced children in Iraq are in need of clothes.

Members of the 107th’s security force currently deployed in Iraqi had noted that the children they saw each day outside their base need new clothes and wanted to do something about it.

Lange’s husband, Master Sgt. Bryan Lange, 107th ARW Recruiting Office supervisor, forwarded the e-mail to his wife to see if they had any clothes from home to donate.

Lange said she felt that the clothing drive was a great opportunity to get the school that their daughter and son attend involved.

“I felt if I got more people involved, there would be more clothes for the children in Iraq,” said Christine.

Lange added that children everywhere are important, and when anyone is in need, giving is the right thing to do.

She said once she mentioned her idea to Holy Ghost Principal Kevin Gundell, he was eager to help.

“Our hearts go out to those in need,” said Gundell.

Gundell said Holy Ghost focuses on teaching students to be mission-minded.

“We regularly take on projects as a school to teach the children responsibility and to count their blessings and give to others,” Gundell said.

On March 26, the students presented 107th ARW members with the bags of clothing they collected. Tech Sgt. Chris Zastrow talked to the children about his recent deployments to Al Udeid, Qatar, and Afghanistan.

“When you go to another country, you see how we take for granted what we have,” said Zastrow.

Zastrow told the students how the clothes they donated will help those who don’t have the basics that many of us take for granted.

“Even though they don’t get to see the kids they donated to, it gives them a sense of charity, they know that they are blessed for what they have,” Lange said.