THE SALEM NEWS
SALVAGED COMFORT
Jail to clean blankets, sheets for Afghan orphans
By Ethan Forman
Staff Writer
Blankets and sheets from the former Beverly High civil defense shelter may someday be used to tuck in orphans in Afghanistan, thanks to resourceful volunteers both here and abroad.
Mark and Janet Briggs and their daughter, Erin, brought about 300 sheets and blankets to be laundered at no cost at Middleton Jail.
The sheets and blankets are designed to go to two orphanages outside Kabul, where corrections officer Paul Atkinson of Marblehead is stationed as a sergeant in charge of maintenance at Camp Phoenix with the Massachusetts National Guard, 1-182nd Infantry Regiment. Atkinson has worked for the jail for 10 years.
At Camp Phoenix, he was ordered to dispose of 300 mattresses and bed frames, said his wife, Maria. They were married just six days before Atkinson shipped out in June.
