US Troops in Afghanistan Help Sisters of Charity

US troops, civilians volunteer to help Afghan needy
STARS AND STRIPES
By PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN Published: November 5, 2016

About a dozen volunteers help with the sorting and packing of the nuns’ car. The volunteers tend to rotate from week to week, but Army Capt. Rachel Campion, 27, with the 82nd Airborne Division, participates regularly.

National Guard Capt. Carl Crawford holds a device used to make fuel bricks out of paper waste, Oct. 21, 2016. On the table are circular bricks formed with ordinary food containers. Every Friday, civilian and military volunteers at Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, donate their time to make the bricks for an orphanage in the Afghan capital.
Andrew Yurkovsky/Stars and Stripes

KABUL, Afghanistan — Twice a month, Jerry Farkas, a retired Air Force flight chief from Utah, greets two Catholic nuns who come to the NATO headquarters here to collect donations for orphans at their Sisters of Charity home and needy families the nuns help support.

The nuns’ visits coincide with a weekly meeting of volunteers, primarily American troops, who organize the donation drive — one of several initiatives the volunteers are engaged in to help underprivileged families and orphans in the Afghan capital.

“Many people want to try to help,” said Farkas, 54, who works for Combined Security Transition Command — Afghanistan’s contracting enabler cell. “They’re here in Afghanistan and they’re trying to figure out: what can I do?”

Appeals for donations have resulted in a steady stream of clothes, school supplies and other items arriving at the NATO base from companies and citizens in the United States. People living on the Resolute Support base also make some donations.

Volunteers sort through the donated items in a shipping container used as a storage unit, preparing them for collection.
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