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Couple find shoes for needy Afghans

They help their daughter-in-law, a military nurse near Kabul, collect every size and kind.

By BETH N. GRAY
Published May 18, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - It's a humanitarian effort that really is aimed at going from the ground up.

The daughter-in-law of a Silverthorn couple, serving as a nurse near Kabul, Afghanistan, is trying to round up as many pairs of shoes as possible so she can give them to adults and kids in the war-torn country.

Barbara and Marvin Wolgast said their daughter-in-law, Lt. Col. Kelly Wolgast, noticed how many people needed shoes while she worked to help build a new hospital. Kelly Wolgast e-mailed her relatives for help.

The Wolgasts in turn placed an appeal in their community newsletter - and started collecting and sending shoes.

"We've been taking any kind," Barbara Wolgast said. "Some men's shoes are coming in, some children's styles, women's styles, tennis sandals for hot summer, men's mid calf boots. We're really sending anything."

The shoes, Kelly Wolgast said in an e-mail to her relatives, are donated two pairs at a time to patients. They go out as soon as they come in, she said.

Besides putting shoes on the feet of people who otherwise wouldn't have them, the effort also raises the stature of Americans working there.

"They have a good relationship with people around here, and this only furthers the relationship, in treating them with what they see as need," Barbara Wolgast said.

In addition to collecting shoes around Silverthorn, the Wolgasts have also taken responsibility for shipping them overseas - which can cost as much as $15 a box.

They would like to continue the project into October but seek financial help to offset mailing costs.

The Wolgasts and their extended family are big on helping their country and others. Kelly Wolgast graduated from Pennsylvania State University through the ROTC, attended the U.S. Army War College and earned a double master's degree in nursing and education.

The younger Marvin Wolgast graduated from West Point and earned a double master's in engineering and business at the University of Texas. He served out his military responsibilities and is working as an engineer in Virginia.

[Last modified May 18, 2006, 01:40:19]