One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, recently returned from Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was making a video documentary with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Their trip took on a different focus when they visited Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid, and decided to do something to help. Kelly and Dina have returned to Minnesota and the medical project they initiated continues in Afghanistan.

More than 70 children have received urgent medical care through this unprecedented collaboration of American and Afghan civilians.

Exciting things continue to unfold with the Helmand Children’s Medical Fund project. Every day donations come in, and every day Najib and Wasim run more and more children to the hospital. So far over 70 children have received urgent medical treatment. I am home recovering from the most exhausting 15 days of my life. I have also been working on a strategic plan to leverage our resources in order to provide more substantial and lasting support to these IDP kids in such desperate need. My goal is to make sure that this effort is more than a temporary “Band-Aid.”

I have just a few more details to work out and will soon be making an official announcement on the future plan for the fund. It’s a brilliant plan, if I do say so myself, so cross your fingers that it all comes together!

In the meantime, check out these videos posted by CNN and KARE 11.

>> Read the article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune
>> Read the initial blog on how the HCMF got started

HCMF Donations at War Kids Relief Children’s Culture Connection

This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 1:41 pm and is filed under NEED Magazine, Organizations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.