Naperville schools collecting Beanie Babies for kids in Iraq

Usually at this time of year, children are thinking about what toys they would like to receive.

But in Naperville Unit District 203, students are thinking about the toys they will be giving away.

The school district has collected more than 5,000 Beanie Babies to send to children in Iraq through U.S. troops on the ground there.

But now it needs a little help from the community to make sure the stuffed animals make it overseas.

"Never in a million years did we imagine we would collect 5,000-plus," said Maureen Dvorak, community relations secretary who has been coordinating the project. "Now we're faced with the dilemma of getting them to Phoenix where Beanie Baby Ambassador is located."

Each year around Veterans Day, the district collects food and personal items to send to soldiers in Iraq through the Illinois chapter of Operation Support Our Troops. This year, Title 1 math teacher Kathy Schoengrund suggested also collecting the stuffed animals for the Beanie Baby Ambassador program started by a friend of hers in Arizona, Christine Hess.

The district now has collected roughly 5,000 of the colorful critters. Madison Junior High has been leading the way with about 2,700 of its own.

Teacher Brian Bakke leader of the school's seventh-grade Team United, has been coordinating the project at Madison dubbed "Kids to Kids … Filling their Hearts" and said it has been a school-wide effort.

"We want them to recognize that in many dimensions they are to serve others around them in their community," Bakke said. "So we all work together as a team here in our small community but we also are part of Naperville and Naperville is part of this great country and this is reaching out to kids around the world. I think it's going to strengthen their commitment toward helping others."

In addition to rustling up their Beanie Baby collections, Madison students also wrote letters to soldiers on yellow ribbons that they attached to the toys.

Two students at Madison, have been especially involved in the project, seventh-graders Misha Ejaz and Maggie LoBue.

"Kids there, all they had to entertain them were rocks and sticks and our whole class felt so bad because all they're doing over there is trying to make the best of things," Misha said. "We're over here listening to our iPods and talking on cell phones so the whole class said we can help them somehow. It really feels good to help with Beanie Babies."

Now that the toys have been collected, the district needs to figure out how to send them to Arizona where Hess is awaiting their arrival.

She started the Beanie Baby Ambassador program shortly after the war in Iraq began to help promote good will between American soldiers and the Iraqi people.

She herself grew up in Germany after World War II and still remembers the kindness of "strangers in camouflage" who would give her treats.

"Sweets go very quickly but (for) a child who never even had any kind of toy, never has seen a stuffed animal … to go to bed day after day thinking about who gave it to (them), I don't think the child would easily be persuaded that all foreigners are enemies," she said.

Hess' group has collected more than 20,000 Beanie Babies. She said she is overwhelmed by the generosity of the Naperville schools.

"I get goosebumps just thinking about it," she said. "It's America at its best."

Anyone who can help the district transport the Beanie Babies to Phoenix or is willing to make a donation to ship them can contact Dvorak at (630) 420-6475.