Restaurant joins in drive for Afghan children

By Jonathan Stinson, Madison Record
(Updated: Friday, November 21, 2008 11:40 AM CST)

Encouraged by a couple of local soldiers, Madison’s Bandito Burrito is reaching out to help children a world away by holding a school supply drive to benefit Afghan children.

From now until Dec. 11, Bandito will offer coupons worth a dollar off an adult beverage or a cup of cheese dip if you donate $150 worth of supplies then you will receive a $50 gift certificate to Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

According to Larry Anderson, owner of Bandito Burrito, the idea started when Jim Torney’s son, Vince, came back from Afghanistan on leave and told Anderson and others about some of the circumstances faced by the children of Afghanistan.

Anderson said Torney told him the soldiers work to help the children but see a great need for school supplies, such as pencils, pens and paper.

“There is a dire need for school supplies,” Anderson said.

In a letter from Vince Torney, he said the most common thing the children ask soldiers for, after food and water, is pens.

“Some of us realized that eliminating the negative, the human hindrances to progress is not enough, that while we have the opportunity, we must try to do what we can to ensure these kids, the future of Afghanistan, have at least a fighting chance at their own future,” Vince Torney said. “Peace does little good when it reigns over desolation and rubble.”

Walt Anderson is the co-owner of Bandito and his son-in-law, who is also serving in Afghanistan, said the same thing.

Jim Torney has secured a way for all of the school supplies collected at Bandito to be shipped to Afghanistan free of charge.

For more information visit theAAEI.org.