Afghanistan

Chicago Toy Store Matching Donations to Afghan Refugee Children

NBC Universal, Inc.

Looking for community help, a Chicago store is accepting and matching new toy donations to Afghan refugee children through the end of September.

Timeless Toys in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood is asking customers for toy donations, which the store says will be delivered to Afghan children in camps across the U.S.

“Every day in the store at Timeless Toys, I see the joy a toy can bring a child,” Timless Toys owner Scott Friedland said. “We are trying to bring some of that joy to the kids at Camp Atterbury and other camps across the country.”

Friedland said the store is providing gifts to Afghan refugee families through Operation Allies Refuge, which provides housing, job support, education and medical services to evacuees.

To donate toys, click here and use the promo code "ALLIES" at checkout and select in-store pickup. To donate money, click here.

More than 6,000 Afghan refugees are being housed at the Indiana National Guard’s Camp Atterbury training base and preparing for permanent resettlement, according to reporting from the Associated Press.

Refugees are being housed in six neighborhoods, with 82 lodging buildings, at Camp Atterbury, about 25 miles south of Indianapolis. The complex includes three community centers, two guest dining facilities and four additional locations for grab-and-go food.

The last U.S. forces flew out of Kabul’s airport in late August, ending America’s longest war following an airlift of Afghans, Americans and others escaping a country once again ruled by the Taliban.

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