2 Groups Sponsor Drives to Help Kurdish Refugees

Two San Diego groups are mobilizing to provide health care and physical comfort for Kurdish refugees trapped in northern Iraq.

Project Concern International, a San Diego-based health organization, has created a Kurdish relief fund and plans to send a team of volunteer professionals to Turkey in an effort to assist the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees who have fled their homeland.

The Salvation Army in San Diego, in response to a request from President Bush, issued an appeal for blankets Friday for the refugees.

Nationally, the Salvation Army hopes to collect 100,000 new or clean blankets, to be distributed by the Air Force sometime next week.

“The Salvation Army traditionally has always been very active in providing for the emergency needs of people, whether it be in the U.S. or internationally,” said Victor Pinzon, a San Diego-based Salvation Army spokesman.

Project Concern, which is geared toward the needs of mothers and children, is one of scores of agencies and governments worldwide that are sending help to Kurds and other exiles trying to flee war-torn Iraq. Project Concern physicians, expected to depart next week, will help assess the refugees’ needs, said Shari Cohen, a spokeswoman.

Founded 30 years ago, Project Concern is a non-sectarian group that has helped assist children in 54 nations and the United States, the spokeswoman said. The nonprofit organization is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development and donations, she said.

Those seeking to help may send contributions to the Project Concern Kurdish Relief Fund, 3550 Afton Road, San Diego, Calif., 92123.

Blankets may be taken to any of the Salvation Army’s 12 thrift stores or certified collection centers in San Diego County. Monetary donations will also be accepted.