National Press Club to Host "NEWSMAKER" Media Briefing: Operation Exceptional Child/Afghanistan Founder Will Talk About Helping Children With Disabilities and the U.S. War Effort

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Mar 29, 2011, 04:48 ET

Date and Time: April 11 at Noon

Place: Zenger Room, National Press Club (529 14th St. NW, 13th floor)

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Debbie Smith, founder of Operation Exceptional Child/Afghanistan, will discuss how her efforts to build a school to help disabled children in that country will also benefit the U.S. war effort.

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Smith launched Operation Exceptional Child/Afghanistan as the executive director of PATHS (Parents and Teachers Helping Students), a 501(c)(3) organization she created in 2004 that advocates on behalf of students with physical/cognitive disabilities.

The state-of-the-art school Smith plans to open for boys and girls with disabilities in grades K through 12 would be a first for Afghanistan, she says. This school would contribute to the hearts-and-minds campaign, with the goal of winning over the local population to defeat the enemy so that U.S. troops can begin to come home, she said.

SOURCE National Press Club