On a recent sunny day, Debbie Cunningham, second vice president of the South Whidbey Republican Women, was happily helping her fellow committeewomen sort through the heaping piles of children’s clothes laid out in her Greenbank garage.

The eight women gathered in the garage were chatting amiably while efficiently folding and placing the clothes in various age-appropriate boxes.

The clothing had been sorted, laundered and mended, and was ready to be packaged and sent to Iraq, where the youngest victims of the war are in desperate need.

“We washed everything. Our washing machines were going and going and going,” Cunningham said.

The boxes were being prepared for Army Spec. Kenneth Rogers, a soldier stationed in Iraq, who will distribute the clothes to local orphanages.

“The outpouring of community help has been fantastic,” Cunningham said.

Several donation stations were set up in early spring around the South End, including Sebo’s Do-It Center, Nails With A View and Rumours Salon.

“Community Thrift of Senior Services deserve a special thanks,” Cunningham noted. “They were just wonderful, with half of the 18 to 20 boxes of clothing coming from them.”

The women hope to receive some monetary donations to help offset the cost of shipping the clothes, which costs about $40 per box.

“We have been overwhelmed with the response from our community,” she added.

Donations for the drive can be made payable to Klothes for Kids and sent to the South Whidbey Republican Women, PO Box 1269, Freeland, WA 98249.