Wichita ? Michael Kindred Jr. didn’t set out to collect movies to send to the troops who are serving overseas. The Wichita teenager’s service project began closer to home, collecting used videotapes and DVDs for nonprofit agencies.

“What happened was when we originally stated this, we just wanted to collect family-oriented videos,” Kindred said. “But people still donated rated-R movies, and we didn’t know what to do with them.”

He and his mother, Celiamor Kindred, settled on giving those videos to Marines stationed in Iraq. Eighty-nine movies were delivered Thursday to a Marine Corps Reserve Center.

“Having been over there … anything that can bring you closer to that ‘being back home’ experience is good,” said 1st Sgt. Richard Lewallen. “If you don’t have those things, all you have are sleeping, eating, patrolling and boredom.”

Michael Kindred, who is 17, started the project four months ago during his junior year at Derby High School.

“It all started pretty much when I was just sitting around my house and realized we had so many videos that we weren’t watching,” he said.

The United Way of the Plains handled the distribution of the movies. Michael Kindred handled the collections. Starting with two pickup points, he now has eight — and has collected more than 400 videotapes and DVDs.

“Videos have been snapped up by agencies in the past, so when Michael came to us with this project we jumped at it,” said Delane Butler, vice president for marketing at United Way of the Plains. “We knew that agencies could use (videos).”

Fifty local nonprofit groups — including homeless shelters and counseling agencieso — have received the tapes and DVDs, Butler said.

Michael Kindred plans to continue the project for another year, and his mother said she hopes other areas will adopt the project.

“Others can pick up on it and do it in their own communities,” she said. “That’s the whole goal, for it to spread out.”