Project Adnon

In April I was directed to the volunteer endeavor of a great kid named Kevin.
Kevin lives in Portland and created Project Adnon

Project Adnon is an all-inclusive grassroots effort to positively affect the lives of children who are growing up amidst the conflict in Iraq. We are working through Operation Iraqi Children to accomplish our goal. This blog is meant to chronicle the progress of this project.

I have been a quiet supporter of Gary Sinese's& Lauren Hillenbrand's Operation Iraqi Children from its earliest inception, so I was thrilled to see that Kevin partnered with them!

I consider one of Project Adnon's chosen photographers, Capt. Dan Bout, to be the brother I never had. I have no doubt he was honored to be a part of such a wonderful project.

I've also been fortunate to come to know Lt. Rich Paetz when I approached him a while back to offer to help promote his documentary. It's through his site that I found out about the wonderful work that Kevin was doing to reach out the children of Iraq.

Rich Paetz documentary, Scouts Out, is evocative,touching, and serves as testimonial to the wonderful heartwarming work our troops do in order to ensure that the twin flames of democracy and freedom never flicker out in Iraq. Joey Coon, who served as part of Lt.Rich Paetz unit, has been a part of Project Adnon from its beginning. It was Joey who first wrote about "Adnon" aka Jimmy.

Jimmy was a kid who we often saw while patrolling our old battle space. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him without his bicycle in hand and a grin on his face. He was one of our favorites in the area and he’d often leave us loaded down with gifts for him and his family. Every once in a while Jimmy gave us, and a few other units, information about insurgent activity in his village. He wasn’t looking for payment or gifts he just wanted his family to be safe and to live without fear.

A few weeks ago we learned from the intel team that Jimmy and his ten year-old little brother were brutally murdered. He was killed by insurgents for cooperating with Coalition Forces.

Project Adnon is dedicated to him.

The Islamic Center of Portland is also contributing to Project Adnon. Kevin is building bridges in his local community as well as in the global community.

I live with the hope that someday soon, Iraq will reach its full glory and that Kevin will be able to visit the children that Project Adnon helped.

Kevin Knodell is an inspiration to teens and adults everywhere.


Related:
War Like You've Never Imagined It.