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Happenings in the Keweenaw Peninsula December 7, 2002 Press Release © 2002 Copper Country Peace Alliance; photos © 2002 Michele Anderson. Reprinted with permission

Peace Alliance to sponsor Walk for Peace, collect health kits for Iraq

HOUGHTON -- "Teach children about peace; don't buy war-toys" will be the message for the Saturday, Dec. 7, Walk for Peace, sponsored by the Copper Country Peace Alliance (CCPA). The walk begins at noon from the Motherlode in Houghton.

Participants in a recent Walk for Peace from Houghton to Hancock and back carry signs expressing their opposition to a war on Iraq. Each week the group has a theme for the walk. On Saturday, Dec. 7, the theme will be "Teach children about peace; don't buy war-toys." (Keweenaw Now file photo)

Everyone who supports a diplomatic, non-violent resolution of the conflict with Iraq is invited to participate. For more information on the walk, call 288-3181.

In addition to their weekly Peace Walks, CCPA members are participating in a project of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), which is working with the Mennonite Central Committee to collect family-size health kits for the people of Iraq.

Between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14, CCPA members will collect family health kits at the Motherlode in Houghton. Anyone wishing to donate a kit can drop it off at the Motherlode or call Sue Ellen Kingsley at 482-6827 or email her at sekingsley@pasty.com for alternative drop-off information.

The Copper Country Peace Alliance (CCPA) will collect donations of health kits like these between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Motherlode in Houghton. The kits will be sent to the American Friends Service Committee for distribution to needy people in Iraq. The items in each kit can be purchased locally for about $10 - $15.

The kits should contain ALL of the following items, and ONLY those items:

4 bars of soap
1 plastic bottle of shampoo (13-24 ounce size or 450 - 830 milliliters). Place in plastic bag.
1 tube of toothpaste (minimum 8 ounces or 100 milliliters)
4 adult-size toothbrushes (leave in packaging)
1 hairbrush
1 wide-tooth comb
1 fingernail clipper
1 box of adhesive bandages (minimum 40, assorted preferred)

If possible, donors are encouraged to contribute $5.00 for each kit to help pay shipping costs. Do not send cash or personal notes in these kits. 

Recently, a Quaker/AFSC delegation visited Iraq. AFSC Iraq Program Associate Peter Lems, who led the delegation, reported, "Iraqis have lost everything. The middle class has been depleted. There are many children who are unable to go to school. In many communities people cannot get clean water. People are dependent on the government's monthly food rations. There is a collective sense of fatigue from 12 years of sanctions. The impending war will make Iraqis' lives even more difficult."

For more than a decade AFSC has been involved in educational campaigns in the United States as well as relief and peacemaking efforts in Iraq. Since June 2002, AFSC and other international aid agencies have been working on a contingency plan for Iraq. This resulted in the shipment of three 40-foot containers to Jordan. The containers are filled with health kits (as described above), school kits and blankets to be distributed in Iraq.

For more information on AFSC activities visit their Web site.

Note: If you wish to contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives on the issue of Iraq, visit the Contacting the Congress Web site for their phone numbers and email addresses. Visit also www.moveon.org to sign a nationwide No War on Iraq petition.

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