Brad Burns, PER of Lake Sammamish Lodge #1843, began a program in 2005 of sending Elks soccer balls to Iraq, to win the hearts of its people and to win the peace.  So far, we have sent over six dozen.  Our contact there, Drew Craig, is a Sergeant-Major in an MP unit, and he and his unit have been distributing the balls to the children.  The Lodge is accepting contributions for this effort, and hopes that it will expand and grow.  SGM Craig is excited about this new program, and says “KEEP ‘EM COMIN’!”.  The text below is from SGM Craig, as he tells us how important these are.

One of the balls went to this young man.  He is the son of a Soldier in the Iraqi Army.  I was visiting this Iraqi Army base, and this young man was hanging around outside when we were ready to leave.  So, I stopped and talked with him (through my interpreter of course).  He said his father is a Soldier, so I know the kid has very little.  The Soldiers make about $200 per month, and that won’t buy much.  So, I asked him if he liked soccer…and of course he answered “yes”.  Seemed like a good young man.  His name is Muhammad…a very popular name here obviously.

As I said, these are not the normal guys I give out toys or items, but they are a good target for our “winning hearts and minds” effort.  Teenagers are the target audience for these Imams spreading their message of hate and violence.  The more of them we win over, the less of them we have to kill or capture.  We’ll never know, but it is possible that your soccer balls save one of these kids life…and maybe an American Soldier’s as well.

As you can see in this photo, there are more kids and balls.  I told all these guys that they had to share and play with the ball.  The big kid seemed to be the “negotiator”, so I gave him the ball and he promised that everyone would be able.