Col. Margaret W. Burcham, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, hands donated toys to kindergarten students during a recent visit to the House of Angels School in Dahuk, Iraq. USACE photo.

DAHUK

Col. Margaret W. Burcham, commander of the USACE’s Gulf Region North district, and members of her team delighted more than 70 kindergarten students at this northern Iraqi school.

The toy drive is the brainchild of Michael Fellenz, a project engineer for the Mosul Area Office. Fellenz ran a similar program while working at the Gulf Region South district and continued his efforts when he transferred to the Mosul office.

He enlisted co-workers to help organize the toy drive and solicited friends and family back home to supply the toys for the giveaways. After Fellenz posted a request for toys on his travel blog, the toy drive gained momentum.

“This project has reaffirmed my faith in people,” Fellenz said, “and I am genuinely touched by the outpouring of support and the fact that so many people back home have taken a personal interest in our mission here.

“To witness how these children live is heartbreaking and I’ve just picked up what others had already started before they've redeployed back to the states,” he continued.  “I am just one of the many individuals in this office and throughout Iraq who have taken the humanitarian effort to heart and tried to make a difference in the lives of the families and children here.”

Organizers said response to the toy drive has been nothing short of phenomenal. “We have received thousands of toys for the project,” said Sara White, Mosul Area Office.

“At first we were storing them in the Resident Office, but they started taking over the work spaces. We now have to store them in a vacant CHU [Containerized Housing Unit].”

Alqush is made up of mostly Christian refugees from the Mosul area and dates its history to the ancient Assyrian empire in 750 B.C. The school was founded by Faris Sabir and is sponsored by the local Christian church. The parochial school has more than 160 students between the ages of three and five-years-old.

(By Hassan Mohammad, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)