Dear Editor;
I felt compelled to write you and your readers. I have just recently been made aware of a situation that has touched my heart, and maybe it will touch yours too.
There are approximately 750,000 Iraq refugees that have fled for their lives from their own country to the desert in Jordan with no possessions and now, no home and have only what they have with them. It is the winter season and there is winter in the desert with cold temperatures and rain.
Being a Canadian citizen, I am unable to even really imagine what it must be like to flee for my very life and then to also leave behind my home and all the possessions I had worked so hard for and then not even have anywhere to go. What if I still had small children?
I honestly can say I have my thoughts about how desperate I would be and yet I know, I really have no idea.
There is a radio station in Edmonton that is working together with other organizations to collect donations of new items to ship in a large container to these displaced people.
The container, which will be filling with new, donated items up to July 11, 2008 after which it will be shipped overseas to Jordan.
Items being requested include socks, underwear, shoes, boots, shirts, pants, jackets, coats and blankets for all ages including baby and infant wear.
Everything is needed as these people have nothing.
I know how easy it is to just let the need pass by (I myself have done that before), and there will always be logical excuses to do nothing.
“The need seems so far away from here”, and “don’t we have enough needy right here?”, are both true statements to a degree, however if we close our eyes and say that things happening in Iraq and other countries overseas do not really effect us, or are not our concern, we are mistaken.
The world is a very small place now and we are affected – just review the news over the past couple of years!
You may think, “I would only be able to give a blanket or a pair of socks so it’s not really doing any good for me to bother.” That may seem true, unless you are the person out in the cold without a blanket or a pair of socks for your feet – then it could mean your very survival.
The timeframe for this opportunity is very short and the need is desperate and immediate – it can’t wait to be done in six months as people are already dying from exposure and other issues.
If you would like to help but can’t get to Edmonton to deliver a donation, arrangements can be made for you.
Please feel free to contact myself or Shauna Thomson in Rimbey at 403-843-7777 for more information. You can also visit: www.infest.ab.ca and click on D.R.O.P. for addition information.
In closing, I would just like to say ‘thank-you’ for taking the time to read this.
Cheryll Chalmers