Missouri Catholics donate boxes of toys to children in Iraq

Published: 2003-12-22

ST. THOMAS, Mo. (CNS) -- Good things come in large packages too. Some children in Iraq will find that out this Christmas, when members of the U.S. Army's 203rd Engineering Battalion in Baghdad open 16 huge boxes of toys donated by friends thousands of miles away. "Our community is blessed with some very generous, caring people," said Julie Francis, a member of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in St. Thomas, who coordinated the gift collection. It all started this summer with two Iraqi children, an American serviceman and a couple of dolls. Julie Francis' husband, Army Staff Sgt. Chad Francis, who has been serving in Iraq since May, befriended two girls who liked to play in a damaged school his unit was rebuilding in Baghdad. They reminded him of his own daughters, Katie and Macy, ages 4 and 2. The Iraqi girls had no toys so Staff Sgt. Francis gave their mother and teacher $20 to buy them both a doll. "That brought their mother to tears," Julie Francis told The Catholic Missourian, newspaper of the Diocese of Jefferson City. "It really touched Chad's heart, and it touched mine, too, when he told me the story. We talked about how fortunate our kids are for living here, and about what we could do to help the kids over there. They really are innocent bystanders in all of this."

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