Long distance support; donations to orphanage in Kyrgyzstan come from afar

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Steele C. G. Britton
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan --  Several Airmen stationed at the Transit Center at Manas in Kyrgyzstan recently delivered over 60 boxes to a local orphanage that were sent by a dental college in Texas and others throughout America.

Kyrgyz children and teachers at the Nizhanchuisk Orphanage and School had no idea what was in store for them when the Americans came to visit the school on their most recent trip in early December.

Dental Hygiene Program students and instructors at Blinn College located in Bryan, Texas, came together to help an orphanage several thousand miles away in Kyrgyzstan.

"We are so blessed [in America] and I felt like we needed to do something to help these children," said Blinn College Dental Hygiene Instructor Marque' Mathis.

Mrs. Mathis reached out to her students and fellow faculty members after her nephew, Lt. Col. Lee Landis, deployed to the Transit Center from Dover Air Force Base, Del., contacted her for help.

"I send a weekly e-mail update to my family and friends in the U.S. about my deployment and I asked for their help after hearing the needs of the Nizhanchuisk Village Orphanage," said Colonel Landis, the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing chief of safety. "My Aunt Marque' is a great lady; she told me immediately that she would reach out to her students at the college for help."

All 24 junior and senior-year students enrolled in the Dental Hygiene Program at Blinn College gave a helping hand with collecting, packaging, and sending out the 53 total boxes to the orphanage.

"It was a group effort by all the students in the program," said Blinn College Dental Hygiene Senior Student Jamie Gladden. "Community service is very important to us and I feel that it is an imperative aspect of our education. Knowing that these children will have the basic essentials we all were so fortunate to grow up with is a wonderful feeling."

Colonel Landis and fellow Airmen traveled to the Nizhanchuisk Orphanage with a vehicle packed with donations for the children and teachers there.

"A group of Manas Area Benefit Outreach Society members and I delivered the boxes in early December and the smiles on the children's faces came instantly," said Colonel Landis. "The faculty was very appreciative of the generosity from America. The students could barely sit still as we walked around the classroom and gave out socks, jackets, shirts, and pants."

"The children shook our hands, gave us high-fives, and wanted to take pictures with us. It made all of us feel good that we could see the direct impact on the lives of children that have very little," the colonel added.

The Manas Area Benefit Outreach Society Focus Group Leader for the Nizhanchuisk Orphanage, Senior Airman John Reuter, was present during the visit.

"When we handed out the items at the orphanage you could just see the children's eyes light up. They had never seen clothes like this in their lifetime. They had never seen clothes that didn't have holes; clothes that had working zippers; clothes that still had all the buttons attached," said Airman Reuter, a 376th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron security journeyman at Manas.

"When I let Colonel Landis and other MABOS members know of the direct needs of the orphanage, everyone immediately began making contacts back home. Those at the Transit Center were overwhelmed when Blinn College students and numerous other organizations in the U.S. donated over the past several months to include Lycoming Nursery School in Pennsylvania, Wilson Junior High School in Wisconsin, Silver Creek Church in Washington, St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Nebraska, friends and family of Tech. Sgt. Gustavo Gonzalez, St. John's Catholic Church in Virginia, and all the many others who all sent well over 200 boxes total."

"Without a doubt, our friends and family back home created a miracle for these orphans and will forever make a lasting impact on the U.S.-Kyrgyz relationship," Airman Reuter added.