Parishes team with actor, author to help Iraqi students

Published: 2004-06-28

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- When the next school year begins for Iraqi children, many of them will be carrying new school supplies, thanks to an international program initiated by an Oscar-nominated Hollywood actor and students from Our Lady of Malibu School. Gary Sinise, perhaps best known for playing "Lt. Dan" in the film "Forrest Gump," co-founded Operation Iraqi Children after two USO trips to Iraq. On one USO trip, Sinise said, he was deeply moved while touring squalid, one-room school buildings that lacked books, pencils, paper, blackboards and libraries -- elements that American schools take for granted. When Sinise returned to Los Angeles, he contacted Matthew Weber, principal of Our Lady of Malibu School, to see about holding a drive for school supplies at the school to assist the rebuilding of 1,500 schools in Iraq. Since the first shipment less than a year ago, Sinise has joined forces with Laura Hillenbrand, author of "Seabiscuit: An American Legend," to formally establish Operation Iraqi Children. It is a worldwide effort aimed at improving learning conditions in Iraqi schools.

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