Golden – A small girl, not much older than 6 or 7, struggled with a math lesson at her school northeast of Baghdad, Iraq.
The subject was not the reason for the girl’s frustration; she was equipped with only a broken pencil and a few pieces of paper.
A U.S. soldier visiting the school in the Diyala province of eastern Iraq saw the students’ dilemma and decided to do something about it.
“I was very sad for her because she reminded me of my daughter, and I wanted to do as much as I could to help these children,” said Army Spec. Steven Wilkerson.
The young soldier, a member of the Army’s “Battle Boar” 1st Battalion, Googled for help.
EZ School Supplies, based in the Denver West Office Park in Golden, popped up on the Internet search engine. In May, Wilkerson e-mailed the company to see if it would donate some school supplies.
“The local schools do not have funds to purchase supplies, as they are very impoverished,” Wilkerson wrote for his commander, Lt. Col. Roger Cloutier.
Officials of EZ School Supplies, a company formed just two years ago by a 2000 graduate of Golden High School, were excited by the request.
“I never expected that,” EZ president Matt Curtis, 23, said of the war-zone request. “The possibilities of the Internet are mind-boggling to me.”
EZ assembles requests from schools and teachers for pre-approved lists of brand-name supplies, which are shipped in cardboard, briefcase-size boxes.
Curtis came up with the idea for the company during a marketing class at Mesa State College. The teacher, however, didn’t think it would work. Curtis got a D and never finished the class.
Jeff Van Noy, an ex-Marine with business experience, hooked up with Curtis through a company investing in EZ School Supplies and became EZ’s chief executive.
“Last year, the company made $39,000,” Van Noy said. “This (fiscal) year, which runs through April 2006, we expect to do $750,000 to $800,000.”
EZ partners with the Learning Legacy Foundation, which specializes in providing supplies to underprivileged students.
Tapping into that connection, EZ sent 35 packs of pencils, paper, erasers and folders to the 1st Battalion’s 30th Infantry, which is serving a 12- to 14-month tour in Iraq.
Students who received the first shipment got “very excited and are extremely happy,” wrote Wilkerson, who responded by sending photos of smiling schoolchildren.
“Kids need the same thing everywhere,” Curtis said.
Van Noy added: “It’s a matter of providing them tools. Who knows what comes from a pencil and a piece of paper?”
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
