Program Sends Soccer Balls to Children

By Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Schultz
Logistics Support Area Anaconda, Public Affairs Office

LOGISTICS SUPPORT AREA ANACONDA — A program that will provide hundreds of soccer balls to Iraqi children began with a mother who wanted to send them candy.

Spc. Daniel McCoy from Omaha, Neb., a soldier with the 134th Infantry Long Range Surveillance Detachment, said his mother, Sue Behr, wanted to do something for Iraqi children. He mentioned that soccer balls would be a good idea, since the children enjoy the game and are always asking for them.

Behr walks McCoy’s little sister to elementary school each day, and mentioned to a counselor, Nancy Wedberg, about her son being deployed to Iraq. When Wedberg asked what the school could do to support him, Behr suggested the soccer balls. In September, Wedberg began a program she called “Our Child to Child” and began speaking to parents and children at other schools she serves.

“I was talking about the project at the other school I serve as a counselor and the parents there wanted their kiddos to be involved,” Wedberg said in an e-mail interview. “Then the principal of a third school asked, so ultimately students from three elementary schools participated.”

(PHOTO: Spc. Daniel McCoy from Omaha, Neb., with the 134th Infantry Long Range Surveillance Detachment hands out soccer balls to children in Al Jamiah, Iraq, March 6, 2007. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Schultz.)

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