Beanies for Baghdad is a bridge between our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, the chidren of Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan and very generous kind hearted people back home who want to do a small part to make the world a better place. Our Network of Points of Contact receive joy in passing out donations to young children who have suffered so much and have so little happiness in their life. Many of the children live in extreme poverty.
Beanies for Baghdad has helped to enable our military with school supplies, beanie babies, small cars, stuffed animals, individual wrapped candy, sporting equipment (soccer balls), warm winter clothing and other children's clothing for humanitarian missions through out Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo. We have sent to multiple units representing the Army, Navy, Marines and Airmen. The toys have been used to bring a smile to the many children faces in which many have never seen a toy and create long lasting friendships. These tiny gestures of kindness help to win the hearts and minds of the people in the regions they are working. When schools are refurbished school supplies have been provided so schools could be opened with the proper supplies. Warm clothing such as hats, gloves, sweaters, mittens have been sent to help keep the children warm that may have froze to death due to lack of warm clothing. Regular clothing have been sent to many orphanages for the children. Items have been given to hospitals to help comfort the children and in return brought joy to our Troops that were able to have something to give them.
Beanies for Baghdad was started in May of 2003 by two soldiers that saw the needs of the children and reached out for help. Program was started by LTC James Barker and SSG Kirk Wallace while in Kuwait. Soon a website was set up and beanies started coming in. SSG Wallace ran the program for 18 months and then was deployed back to the states. In January of 2005 they soon realized with their military duties they did not allow them the time to run the program and asked Donna Ward to take the program and run it. She accepted and has been Program Manager since then. On 10-28-2005 they were incorporated and received their 501 c 3 status. Since then they have been ruled a public charity. B4B started out sending to one unit in Baghdad and has now sends to anywhere between 15 to 25+ units in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo and hopes to be able to send in other countries where there are military and children in need. There are no salaries paid at Beanies for Baghdad and all donations are used exclusively for the needs of the program.
How This Organization is Funded