Donate to Operation Give

Utahns who wish to help Iraqi children may contribute material at a local warehouse today through Saturday.

The project is called Operation Give. It grew out of an encounter in Iraq that "Chief Wiggles" mentioned in his Internet journal. (Wiggles, a member of the Utah National Guard who is serving in Iraq, goes by the nickname for security reasons.) In September, he wrote about the grateful reaction of a little Iraqi girl he helped with small gifts.

Soon after that posting, Operation Give was launched to collect gifts and items children in that country need. In the past few months, concerned people have contributed more than $50,000, said Scott Evensen, a Provo resident and friend of Wiggles.

Evensen, who maintains the Chief Wiggles Web site for the soldier, added that so far, more than 1,000 boxes of items have been delivered. More than 2,000 boxes are in the project's Maryland warehouse awaiting shipment.

Overstock.com is offering use of its warehouse as a collection site for Operation Give through Saturday. Overstock.com is a Salt Lake-based discount outlet store, largely online, that also sells from its warehouse.

The warehouse, 955 S. 3800 West, will be open for donations from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, said Alan Seko, spokesman for the company.

Matt Evans, director of Operation Give, said donated items should be in new or in "like-new" condition, according to Seko's press release. Overstock.com is a corporate sponsor of Operation Give and has donated $20,000 worth of toys.

Operation Give is collecting stuffed animals, puppets, balls, pinwheels, kaleidoscopes, small non-military cars and trucks, flying disks, kites, flip-flops, hard candy, toothbrushes and toothpaste, dental floss, brushes and combs, socks, school supplies and underwear for boys and girls ages 3-18.

Backers do not want violent action heroes, violent toys, Barbie dolls, scantily dressed dolls, toys that shoot, water guns or makeup.

At the Maryland warehouse, Operation Give sorts the toys and necessities and ships them to Chief Wiggles. The chief distributes the material to children, families, orphanages and hospitals.

"Because of the tremendous outpouring of support from Utah, Operation Give has decided to collect items locally for shipment," Evans said, according to the release.

In addition, people can donate money to Operation Give through credit cards or send material for children directly to the Operation Give warehouse, 7155 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, MD 21046. They also can contact the project at its Web site, www.operationgive.org.