As many of you know our son Jeremy is in Iraq. you can read his emails at Iraq Diaries. They see a lot of kids as you may have noticed from his photos. Recently Iraq did really well in an Asian soccer competition and for a brief moment it united the country as you may have seen or read on the news.
Well the kids ask Jeremy if he has any soccer balls.
So Trudy, has decided to collect soccer balls and small pumps to send them over to Jeremy to give out. Used balls are great and many people have some sitting in their garages. If you can deflate them and send them to us wonderful. Our office address is Long & Foster Real Estate, 92 Lancaster Avenue, Devon, PA 19333. Mark your box for the attention of Trudy Vandekar and we will get them shipped to Jeremy.
If you are attending the Active Rain get together being organized by Jeff Belonger in Philadelphia you can bring them there as well and we will collect them and thank you in person.
Thanks to all in advance.
Nick.... this is great and I would love to help some. Tom Burris also did a post in regards to gag gifts to the service men and women over in Iraq. Do you mind if I place the link here? I will link your post in the AR member invite. thanks
Hi, Nick & Trudy!
This is great - it's amazing what can foster understanding and cooperation when there is a language barrier.
One of our boxes going to Jeremy is full of beanie babies that a teacher at my mom's school donated for the soldiers to give out to kids they encounter. They are colorful and soft and I hope they brighten a child's day!
Thanks so much for posting Jeremy's "Iraq Diaries" here - I enjoy reading them! And what a great legacy he's creating - he can have them for always, for his kids and their kids...
~Maura Gebhardt
Well our local paper printed an article and so far we have received 10 balls. We have managed to mail 4 so far and will mail the other six after thanksgiving.
Maura, thank you for all your kindness and encouragement. We have all Jeremy's letters from boot camp, his emails, photos and letters from his first tour of Iraq and his emails and letters from his dive school. Each is in its own 3 ring binder. This tour also has its own binder that Trudy puts together, with all the photos etc. This is a wonderful unit and they are all very close. I am already looking forward to the day when they come home. I know how excited I am going to be and how emotional as well. Hopefully this tour they will all return together in one piece.
We will be sure to keep you informed.
THANKS, Nick
Hi, Nick! Thank you for the message this week that Jeremy received our care packages. I'm sorry to have not responded sooner, but we are so very glad that he and his troops were so excited.
We're thinking about him!
~Maura Gebhardt
This is Omar, a little Iraqi boy who has downs syndrome. Jeremy and the guys often see him wandering around the area where they are working. Today they found him walking around with a shovel and so they decided to give him a soccer ball as well.
Thank you for donating, we sent off another box full today.
We have had great response to our request for soccer balls. A local 5th grade Sunday school gathered over 30 balls together as a project for their class. Here they are with Trudy and I when we went to pick them up this morning.
What a great photo of you at the school! This is such a great project - I really think it's wonderful!
I hear from one of my partners who just picked up the mail that there's a letter for us from a soldier - I'll be posting it tomorrow!
~Maura Gebhardt