Airmen donate items to Bulgarian children Published Sept. 4, 2003 By 2nd Lt. Tracy Giles 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs PLOVDIV, Bulgaria (AFPN) -- Airmen of the 86th Contingency Response Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, donated van-loads of clothing, toys, games and books to school children here Sept 2.They brought the donated goods with them as they deployed to participate in the NATO Partnership for Peace exercise, Cooperative Key 2003.“The idea to gather donations for the Bulgarian children originated during the planning conferences held in Plovdiv leading up to this year’s exercise,” said Tech. Sgt. Eric Wilhelm, 86th CRG aircraft flight maintenance chief. “We noticed there was a need and decided to do something about it."The group created a standing collection point where people could drop off donations. Wilhelm said it took more than six months to gather all the items.“Most of the toys were provided by department stores (from the United States) while all of the clothing and some of the toys were gathered by members of the (group),” he said. “Bulgaria was the perfect choice to get this started, we already had airlift provided so all that was left for us to do was to collect the donations.”“Hopefully this will help the kids and bring smiles to their faces,” said Lt. Col. Ben McMullen, Air Expeditionary Group commander who made the formal presentation to the school on behalf of the group. “Our prayers are with the kids and their families, and we hope these small gifts will offer each of them a little bit of sunshine.”Besides the donations, the group also gave the children Air Force aircraft posters and Air Mobility Squadron patches.Jeff Toffoli, a member of the U.S. Peace Corps, graciously accepted the gifts on behalf of the schools and children. Toffoli and his wife have been doing volunteer work at the office here for more than a year.“The kids are not going to believe their eyes when they see all of this,” Toffoli said. “It will definitely brighten their days and (lift) their spirits. Thank you.”Toffoli said the gifts will be given to 5- and 6-year-old children in six different schools throughout Plovdiv.McMullen said the 86th CRG would like to help the organization and sponsor a school directly in the future.“We take pride in doing mighty things,” McMullen said. “One of the ways we can do mighty things is to help children who are in need.”Plans are in place to continue giving back to the community here, said Wilhelm.“We will keep our standing collection point for donations,” he said. “There are several countries where people don’t have a lot, yet they give their time to kids who have even less. The least we can do is help out whenever and wherever we can.”The goal of Cooperative Key 2003 is to enhance the interoperability of NATO and partner nation air forces through cooperation and familiarization of the organization’s procedures.