Wool-Aid is partnering with Syria Relief (UK) to support Syrian children who have been displaced within their own country by the conflict. There are over 12.2 million Syrians in desperate need of humanitarian aid, with over 5.1 million of these being children. About 7.6 million people have been displaced within Syria by the conflict. Syrian Relief provides care and support to these vulnerable children in hopes of curbing mass migration to refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.

Syria Relief sends relief containers to Turkey, where they are taken to the Turkish/Syrian border and undergo standard freight and customs inspections before they are met by ground teams inside Syria and taken to warehouses for distribution. Syria Relief is able to reach areas that most others can’t. More often than not, these are the places with the most desperate needs.

Wool-Aid is focusing on warm woolen clothing — especially hats, mittens, and vests — for children age 9 to 12. Balaclava-style hoods/hats are especially welcome. We will also send clothing for other age groups, including clothing and blankets for infants and toddlers. Please see Wool-Aid Guidelines for more information. Shipments and distribution are managed year-round, so items sent to Wool-Aid will be sent to Syria Relief regularly, either for immediate distribution or to be stored until needed.

Mindful that Syria is a country at war, we will avoid sending items in camouflage or red colorways; representational images of people and animals are not appropriate for distribution within Syria.

Wool-Aid has established a new partnership with some very wonderful and dedicated people in Nepal!

Wool-Aid items will be sent to help a group of young monks at the Tendhar Lugar Choeling Monastery in Kathmandu, but even more of our Wool-Aid items will be shared with needy children who live in the area surrounding the monastery in Kathmandu and in other parts of Nepal.

Monks from this monastery have been very active in securing and delivering relief aid to people who have been affected by the earthquakes that first hit the area on April 25, 2015, with the young monks being very much involved in these relief efforts.

There are currently 53 young monks at the monastery, ages 5 to 15. At the Tendhar Lugar Choeling Monastery, the monks can wear mustard (gold), yellow, maroon, and brown colors. They wear sweaters and vests under their monks’ robes during the winter, and socks and hats are also much needed.

They would especially appreciate receiving blankets for older children and teenagers. Even in the summer, it is quite cold when they are sleeping outside in tents (as many have been since the earthquake, because of the continued danger of building collapse). They often sleep two to a mattress for extra warmth. During the more temperate seasons, the blankets help protect the children from mosquito and other insect bites in addition to protecting from the colder temperatures. Blankets for older children need to be larger than our typical blankets, so we are planning to send blankets that are 40″ × 60″ (or even a little bigger). That’s a lot of 10″ blanket squares!

Clothing given to children outside the monastery can be in any color, and we expect to send a wide range of sizes for them to distribute. In the weeks after the earthquake, monks from Tendhar Lugar Choeling traveled far outside the city to reach villages that had not yet received any aid.