St. Mary's Orthodox Church, Coaldale, will be accepting items to be included in health kits for Syrian Christian refugees. The church is also asking for help to assemble and mail the kits.

"Orthodox Christians in Syria are being slaughtered for their faith alone in many cases. We are suffering for our fellow Christians who have fled these war torn regions seeking peace and safety for their families. I spoke with a Syrian friend I know who told me just a week ago that 450,000 Christians had left the country, and that he personally has one cousin that was killed and a friend as well in the last two weeks. So in response we want to partner with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) to do what we can, said St. Mary's pastor Fr. Daniel Matthewson.St. Mary's will be collecting donations and health kit items through Sunday, Oct. 6. The items will be purchased on Monday, Oct. 7, and the kits assembled on Tuesday, Oct. 8 and Wednesday, Oct. 9. They will be loaded and shipped on Thursday, Oct. 10.The health kit items will be packed in gallon-size zip lock-type plastic bags. They will include one each: hand towel, washcloth, comb, metal nail file or nail clipper, bar of soap (bath size, new and wrapped in original packaging), toothbrush, and six bandages.For more information, call the church at (570) 645-2772.