Relief Effort to Help Make Holidays Brighter for War Victims

Hundreds of schoolchildren have done all they can to prepare for the arrival of a Russian warplane in Long Beach next week. So have countless business executives, city staff members and clergy.

The only job left for charity workers toiling away in a giant hangar at Long Beach Municipal Airport is to prepare the plane’s peacetime cargo: thousands of shoe boxes filled with toys, letters, shampoo and toothbrushes.

The plane’s destination: Bosnia, Rwanda and other war-torn countries where children are in need.

For the first time in its four-year history, Operation Christmas Child, an international relief effort headed by gospel crusader Franklin Graham, has garnered enthusiastic support from Long Beach-area groups and businesses. They have filled an estimated 10,000 boxes, about an eighth of the contribution anticipated from all of Southern California.

A Russian-built Antonov 124--designed to be the world’s largest cargo plane and carry intercontinental nuclear missiles--is set to arrive at the airport Monday. After loading and a round of speeches by dignitaries, the plane is scheduled to leave Tuesday for Great Britain, where it will join five other Antonovs for a mission briefing.

Last year, the operation delivered 800,000 boxes to children who have endured armed conflicts in the Balkans, the Middle East, Central America and Africa.

This year, according to charity workers at the airport Tuesday, the typical box from Long Beach will include soap and shampoo donated by hotels, toothbrushes given by dental clinics and toys collected in the lobbies of businesses.

Many of the boxes also will contain letters and photos of Long Beach schoolchildren hoping to gain future pen pals, said Kristy Ardizzone, chairwoman of Long Beach’s Airport Area Business Council, a group that has helped organize the charity effort.

“It’s very good way . . . to let these kids learn what goes on in the outside world,” she said.