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Jed Boal ReportingUtah aviators and their families are giving a big lift to a struggling village in Afghanistan. They’re sending an enormous aid shipment to for people who desperately need it.
The First of the 211th Aviation Battalion typically sends the enemy running for cover. But the aviators also deliver aid from the air in a volunteer role as Angels for Afghanistan. Pallet by pallet the Angels for Afghanistan will help poor villagers build better lives.
Hygiene supplies, blankets, warm clothes...all headed for the village of Jegdalek.
Sarah Monson, Globus Relief Fund: "They see the needs are really great. This project got started when the husbands started writing home to their wives about everything they saw. The wives felt, we have to do something."
Beverly Williams is one of those wives. Her husband is with the 1-211th. The wives were stunned whey they learned how much the Afghanis need.
Beverly Williams, Angels for Afghanistan: "I can't imagine not having a pair of shoes. So they told us what was needed. We started gathering it up, and the community got involved, and it exploded"
67 pallets in all, filling two truck-sized shipping containers. The families may be separated by half a world, but they're working together.
Mike Pluim is home on leave.
Mike Pluim, 1-211th Apache Battalion: “It’s much better to be able to provide for them than to do harm to them.” SOT
He'll be there when the Angels’ shipment arrives next month.
Mike Pluim, 1-211th Apache Battalion: "They need everything, because they have nothing. They are willing to take and utilize everything they get."
Globous Relief helped coordinate the massive project. The Angels plan another shipment in the spring.
