LAWRENCE, Kan. — A father working as a contractor in Iraq spearheaded a campaign recently to secure school bus transportation for his daughter and other Quail Run School students.

Lee Hamlet, who has been in Iraq for more than two years, learned of budget cuts that forced the district to eliminate bus service this year for students living within 2.5 miles of their schools, according to The Lawrence Journal-World.

Hamlet’s wife, Susan, has been unable to drive her daughter to school due to medical reasons. Other parents don’t have vehicles, and though some students have been walking or biking to school, those options will not be available during inclement weather, the Journal-World reports.

Parents had been paying First Student to keep certain routes running, but when families in the Hamlets’ neighborhood were unable to gather funds for their own bus, Hamlet, from his post in Basra, put down $1,750 for a First Student bus, with plans to pay more later for the second semester.

Last week, the new bus route began transporting 15 students to school.