Child care center joins relief effort for children of war-torn Kosovo

Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2000 | 10:24 a.m.

Children at the McCarran Child Development Center are learning a lesson in giving this month.

The center, which provides child care to about 150 children from infants to 7 years old, is collecting book bags and backpacks filled with school supplies for elementary school children in Pristina and other regions of Kosovo.

It will collect school supplies as well as winter clothing through the end of the month.

The idea for the "Book Bags for Kosovo" project came after Linda Mason, chairwoman of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, the company that runs the child-care center, traveled to Kosovo last month.

Mason found children attending schools in bombed-out, bloodstained buildings with no electricity or heat, a lack of school supplies, and teachers working without pay. She shared her experiences through the company's website, and the McCarran center, along with some of the other 291 centers run by Bright Horizons in 34 states, responded.

"When I saw schoolchildren in Kosovo wearing their winter coats at their desks because they had no heat and teachers giving everything they had to their students, even without a paycheck, I knew the American child-care community could help," Mason said.

The project is being used to teach the children about giving as well as to collect donations, McCarran Child Development Center Director Nikki Carolin said. The center cares for children of McCarran International Airport employees but is open to the public.

"It gives us the opportunity to make the world a smaller place by bringing the children in our center in touch with kids their own age across the globe," Carolin said.

Mercy Corps International, the U.S. agency conducting relief work in Kosovo that arranged Mason's trip, will coordinate shipping and distribution of the donations.

Donations can be dropped off at the McCarran Child Development Center, 1788 E. Russell Road, 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Donations also can be sent directly to Mercy Corps International, Bright Horizons Project, P.O. Box 2669, Portland, OR 97208-2669.