Army Capt. Nick Clemente doesn’t hand out candy to the children who swarm around him in Afghanistan; he gives out pens and paper.

Back in March, Clemente, 34, wrote home to his family about the deep sense of duty he felt to help Afghan adults and children. In particular, he wrote, was his desire to help them learn to read and write.

Clemente said Taliban rule has been a setback for Afghan literacy; more than 70 percent of Afghan adults aren’t literate, according to the World Factbook maintained by the CIA.

“The good news is that Afghans recognize that illiteracy is holding them back and yearn for education,” he wrote.

Clemente – who has served two tours in Iraq and is on his first tour in Afghanistan – works with the Afghan National Police training new officers.

“How do we train quality police officers who can’t read?” Clemente said in his letter. “How does a policeman write a simple report or conduct an inventory of his men’s weapons?”

Clemente’s words spurred his mother, Sue Clemente to action. She began collecting pens, pencils and paper to send over to her son.

She sent 560 pens in her first shipment on March 23. Then she realized that was only enough for eight pens for each of the 70 soldiers serving with her son.

She emailed all her contacts asking for donations to meet her goal of 100 U.S. Postal Service boxes of school supplies.

Nick Clemente and others began distributing the supplies to Afghans through the new police officers to create a bond between the officers and citizens.

“In every kindergarten in America they teach you the policeman is your friend,” Sue Clemente, 60, said this week. “This is an area where they don’t have a policeman concept, so you’re trying to build up the police as your friend.”

The Laguna Niguel resident now is partnering with Mission Viejo Police Services to expand her efforts. Police services has dedicated June to collecting donations throughout Orange County.

“When you see our troops teaching police officers, you realize the importance of police teachings and you can’t help but do something,” said Tammy Descoteaux, crime prevention specialist for Mission Viejo.

Descoteaux said she hopes that as school ends, and students and teachers clean out desks and lockers, they’ll put extra writing materials in the collection bins that have been placed at schools.

Nick Clemente said in his letter that he hopes the supplies will have long-term effects on Afghan citizens.

“If we are able to provide just a little bit of help to the next generation of Afghans we may be able to build not just improved relationships with the villagers during our tour … but also enable literacy and possibly a more skilled Afghanistan in the long run,” he wrote.