Local groups honored for support of Kosovo children

Posted 7/9/20

The Powell National Honor Society, American Legion Unit 26 Auxiliary and the Cody Veterans of Foreign Wars were honored last week for being part of a statewide effort to donate school supplies and …

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Local groups honored for support of Kosovo children

Posted

The Powell National Honor Society, American Legion Unit 26 Auxiliary and the Cody Veterans of Foreign Wars were honored last week for being part of a statewide effort to donate school supplies and toys to children in Kosovo.

Wyoming Army National Guard Capt. Eli Varney presented the groups with plaques of appreciation during a June 29 ceremony at the Park County School District No. 1 Administrative Building.

Varney and dozens of other Wyoming soldiers deployed to Kosovo in 2019 as part of a multinational peace-keeping coalition that’s keeping things stable as the nation completes its transition to independence from Serbia.

Torn apart by years of conflict, suspicions of the United States remain heavy in the area’s culture. Varney, along with the rest of his team, wanted to find ways to build trust and improve relations with the Serbians.

“After being there for about two months, walking the border between Serbia, I wasn’t making the difference I wanted it to make,” the former Worland resident said.

The soldiers needed to be a more positive influence on the communities of Kosovo. They needed to work with the kids, work with the churches, and work with the mosques.

“Let’s treat people like people, right? I think that’s the best way to handle things,” he said during his presentation in Powell.

In Kosovo, many of the homes and single-room schoolhouses don’t even have running water. The children lacked supplies and toys.

“The kids didn’t know how to be kids,” he said.

Varney and his team began a project to raise donations of these needed items.

Trudy Zaffarano of Powell, who is a family assistant specialist for Wyoming National Guard, learned about the project while working with Varney’s family as part of her job. She is also a member of the American Legion Unit 26 Auxiliary and she shared information about the project at one of the group’s meetings.

“Next thing I know, we had support from all over the community,” Zaffarano said.

Varney said the donations opened up doors for himself and the troops he served with.

The northern part of Kosovo is Serbian territory, and the American military bombed the Serbs fairly heavily in 1999. After Varney’s unit began donating supplies and toys, cleaning up churches and helping the elderly, he said they saw a considerable thawing of their relations with these communities. Some of the troops were invited into people’s homes for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, which was previously unheard of.

“We’ve been in Kosovo for over 20 years, and they have never invited Americans into their homes,” he said.

Varney has since returned from deployment, leaving another team to pick up where he left off. He and his wife, Katie, have a son, Finn. They live in Colorado Springs, where Varney serves as a mental health counselor, helping vets with depression and anxiety issues.

“That and being a dad are my focuses now,” he said.

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