Peace Packages to Iraq

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Letter from Jon Larson Saturday, May 10, 2003 to participants of the workshop:

We offer these as the first batch to prime the pump if you will.   The total cost is about $150. This will create nice bags for 50 students.   The 14x14x14 shipping box plus ziploc bags plus postage to LA, plus a $30 check to Operation Interdependence for their handling and postage, totals around $225, $4.50 per student.  Our small 501c3 non-profit the Jon and Karen Larson Family Foundation is pleased to make this initial donation to the cause on all of our behalf.

To make this month's shipment to our adopted platoon in Iraq, the box must be in LA this next week by the 14th.  So with everyone's concurrence after our phone meeting Monday morning, I will pack these up and submit them in all of our names Monday afternoon so the box is in LA Wednesday. 

To see how they will be packed, click on the following URL.   http://www.heartsfromhome.com/pages/packing.htm

To see how the box will be handled by Operation Interdependence personnel in LA who will inspect it and take it to Camp Pendelton where it will depart for Iraq by military air cargo, click on the following URL.  http://64.95.157.81/about.shtm

To see the background of my wife Karen and myself and our non-profit projects, click on the following URL;  http://www.larson-foundation.org

Since we do not have our formal program established yet, and since we do not have time to get student letters this time, I am hoping that each of you can email to me ASAP a letter from yourself which I can print out and insert into the box of supplies we send on our behalf.  Mention your name and address if you want them to contact you later, your organization, your family background, your hope for the Iraqi boys and girls, any message of support and peace you might wish to send, news about life here, anything you wish.  The only restriction is that anyone sending an email under age 18 can not specify a specific return address or phone contact.

I discussed this with Al Renteria, the founder of Operation Interdependence and director today.  He wants to meet with us and to discuss all of our input so that we can work together to have the strongest program with the best chances for success.  He has a tremendous amount of experience doing this.  This is part of the five year plan for OI so this fits right in with his organization's mission and vision. But there are restrictions in dealing with the military and shipping overseas.  Since the anthrax mailings two years ago, all rules changed and there is no direct way other than immediate family to deliver mail to soldiers on active duty overseas.  OI is the only civilian to military program approved by the U.S. Military.  And currently it is the ONLY way for us to get student supplies indirectly to school children in Iraq.  There is no other way right now.  In time there will be.

Al stated that we have to understand that we are relying on active duty soldiers to do the distribution and that this work is nowhere in their job description or responsibility.  Al suggests that rather than us asking the soldiers to make the deliveries to school children, that we provide these supplies to the soldiers along with the CRations I am sending to our platoon of 50 for their personal use. They will improvise on their own as to making the best use.  In other words, this is an unconditional gift from us, with no specific stated destination, but we trust that the materials will be put to their highest use, and that we will learn and improve the process. 

Some might be used by our soldiers themselves, some might be distributed to boys and girls on the streets that the soldiers encounter on their daily patrols, and it will occur to our soldiers that they could be delivered to the nearest Iraqi school where that is possible.  One key is for our soldiers to understand (from your letters) the level of support behind this idea and that many more student school supplies will be arriving in the future and that we would appreciate their feedback as how to best accomplish this.

We will hear back from our soldiers in writing how they used the materials and what experiences they had in distributing them which will allow us to better design our program.

So thank you one and all.  Some of us will be talking Monday morning, and we'll do the best we can with this initial package of school supplies, and trust they will end up for the higher purpose we hope for.  And please provide your feedback and recommendations even for this first pilot shipment.

But we won't send this box until we have the blessings of the teleconference Monday morning including a cover letter in English and Arabic from Amer.  Then we have the summer to perfect our organization so we can be in full swing by this coming Fall when our students return to school.

I attached a photo of Karen packing our latest monthly shipment of CRations to our Marine platoon.  Yes, you will notice some feminine products in the photo, our platoon has 8 women of the 50 total.  I attached a printout of the supplies inventory so you can see what we are sending. 

May God bless us all in our important work. 

Take care,

Jon Larson

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