Eric Roles, 25, a Baltimore Poly Tech and West Point graduate, landed in Iraq for his first deployment in January.
Shortly after, he began requesting soccer balls and equipment from family and relatives ? in bulk.
“Eric said he had everything he needed,” said Trudi Roles, his mother. “But he asked if we could mail things for the kids there. There were so many kids, he said, and they didn?t have anything.
The 500 soccer balls Lt. Roles eventually requested started arriving a couple weeks later.
Since The Examiner ran a story three weeks ago on Roles? unusual mission, more soccer balls and equipment have flowed in.
“A lot of people read the article and contacted us about donations and have pledged their support,” said Virginia Petersen, Roles? fiancee, who has been managing the collection, bundling and mailing process with his mother. “We?re up to 859 balls now.”
Roles said in a recent e-mail from Iraq to his family?s Web site, “My room is piling up with soccer balls, it?s a warehouse.”
A recent newspaper story in Colorado Springs, where the couple met while Roles was doing Special Forces training, has generated new pledges totaling 300 more balls.
“We haven?t counted those toward the total, but if we do, we?re well over 1,000,” Petersen said. “Eric?s ? and our goal now ? is 5,000 soccer balls by the end of the year. And we have people donating money which is important, too. We?ve figured out it costs about 75 cents to send each deflated ball.”
Petersen added the Savage Boys and Girls Club in Howard County and the Norwood School in Bethesda recently pitched in with a ball, jersey, cleat, shin guard and soccer shorts drive.
Roles wrote that his squad keeps a pile of soccer balls in their armored vehicle and distributes as many as they can. In a recent e-mail, he recounted “trading” five soccer balls to local kids for four marbles and an apple.
“Whenever we give a ball away, we always try to spend a few minutes playing around with the Iraqi kids or adults,” Roles wrote. “Not an easy task when you are wearing 60 pounds of armor, ammunition, and carrying radios and rifles, not to mention you are trying to find and kill insurgents.”
For more information, or to make a contribution, e-mail [email protected].
