Students at Gore High School helping children in Iraq

All the images of brutality and abuse coming out of Iraq have given some green country high school students plenty of positive motivation. <br/><br/>The News on 6's Rick Wells went to Gore to find

Wednesday, May 19th 2004, 10:06 am

By: News On 6

All the images of brutality and abuse coming out of Iraq have given some green country high school students plenty of positive motivation.

The News on 6's Rick Wells went to Gore to find out more about Operation Iraqi Children.

Thereâ€™s something pretty special happening inside Gore High School. They are gathering school supplies for kids in Iraq. Freshman Chris Cochran: "We've been at it about a week, this is an awesome result."

There is a collection point at the school and at businesses and churches around town. Senior Heidi Robison says it's been pretty easy. "We just go up and say this is what we are doing, we're helping the children of Iraq, and do you have anything to donate. We've had lots of support with it."

The project grew out of all the bad images coming out of Iraq. These students wanted to do something positive. Karen Howard a full time tutor at the school and a youth leader at Gore United Methodist found a website that offered an alternative to the negative things the kids were seeing. "We found we could be a part of the solution."

The site is www.operationiraqichildren.org.

The project was started by actor Gary Sinise and author Laura Hildebrand. Mrs. Howard did some research and found First Lady Laura Bush had endorsed the project, so she suggested it to the kids. Theyâ€™ve taken it from there.

The students are making up individual bags of supplies. There is a specific list of what is needed, like no crayons, they melt too quickly. Howard: "Iraqi children can only use colored pencils so we'll send a box of colored pencils with an eraser."

Sophomore Sara Elyassin says they want to let these kids know they care about them. "We can make a difference by uniting and coming together, doing something as one."

Thursday is the last day of school in Gore, but there is still a lot of work to do. Students will continue collecting and packaging supplies for about three more weeks, and then they'll ship them June 15th.

If you want to help, call Gore High School at 918-489-5587.