As part of Spirit of America's US Troops Request Winter Clothing project, we recently funded the shipping of over 75 boxes of donated winter coats bound for the people of Paktya Province, Afghanistan at the request of Major David Gaitonde, physician with the 1-40th Squadron stationed in Gardez.  As Maj. Gaitonde pointed out in his request letter to us, "Afghanistan is one of the five poorest countries in the world and its winters can be extremely cold, especially at higher elevations." Thanks to your generous contribution, Spirit of America was able to facilitate shipping of the boxes which should arrive in mid-July.

We will update you on the arrival of the coats, but in the meantime, take a minute to read the article, Church sends coats to Afghanistan, from the Columbia County News-Times in Evans, Georgia about the efforts of the Wesley UMC Youth Group to collect, clean and box these coats to help Maj. Gaitonde and the Afghan people.

Wesley UMC Church Group from Evans, GA collected winter coats for Major Gaitonde