Vermonters help Afghan children with Operation Sandbox

Published: 2003-10-03

POULTNEY, Vt. (CNS) -- His heart was touched by the needs of children in an orphanage he visited in Kabul, Afghanistan, so Capt. Scott Cadieux of the Vermont Army National Guard is coordinating Operation Sandbox to get them items ranging from crayons, toys and diapers to canned food, clothing and blankets. And a Catholic parish in Vermont is helping his work. In an e-mail received by another member of the Vermont National Guard serving in Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Terry Williams, Cadieux wrote: "These children have never experienced freedom. Many have never been loved by a family and most have never been to school. They live in a country fractured by years of war, suffering from past oppressors: the ruthless Taliban regime." Visiting these children was "a truly heart-wrenching event," Cadieux said. Williams forwarded the e-mail to his mother, Josephine Williams, parish secretary at St. Raphael Church in Poultney, and she followed up by suggesting that parishioners support Operation Sandbox.

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