If you’re like me, you clean out your kids’ toys periodically as they outgrow things, and/or as the mess becomes impossible. I have been known to throw away Happy Meal and birthday party favor toys under cover of darkness. Don’t judge me. Judge not, lest you yourself step on a light-up Scooby Doo Mystery Van in the dead of night with a tender, bare foot.

Anyway, it’s easy enough to bag this stuff up and take it to my local thrift store donation. It will be just a few extra dollars to send it to Iraq for the disadvantaged kids there. It’s rote, now, for me to say I disagree with the war and our president, but that I support our troops regardless. The thing is, what am I doing to support them? This is something I can do. It’s something you can do, too.

Check out the story (thanks, Asha!) and then put those toys in a big box and hit the post office. There are children in Iraq who may find great comfort in a stuffed animal or some other little toy. In fact, this may even get my kids helping me to clear out a bit rather than shrieking that they cannot possibly live without whatever item I am trying to toss. I’m pretty sure there’s some good karma in the bargain for us, too.

My deepest thanks to Edmay Mayers and the rest of our troops who are working to bring comfort to those in need.