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Weekend yard sale will help pay for shipping items to Iraq, Afghanistan

BY CODELL RODRIGUEZ, The Southern

Friday, October 3, 2008 4:52 PM CDT

CARTERVILLE — Heartland Heroes has already obtained a slew of items to ship to Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they just need to pay for the shipping.

The organization that ships necessities to soldiers and gifts to children overseas will have a yard sale from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at C & J U-Haul and Storage, 702 E. Plaza Drive in Carterville. The proceeds will go to cover shipping costs of the care packages. President Dan Baxter said boxes cost as much as $10.95.

Items include necessities for the soldiers such as shampoo and treats such as beef jerky. They also ship hard candies, drink mixes and teddy bears for the soldiers to hand out to local children.

“It’s amazing what a little stuffed animal will do for a child,” Baxter said.

Baxter said with children of his own, he has a soft spot for the children affected by war and wants to bring a bit of happiness to their lives. He said the organization receives photos of the children who receive their care packages.

“It’s a really good feeling,” Baxter said. “If we can touch one child, it’s well worth it.”

Al Jabr, manager of C & J U-Haul and Storage, said in a press release that the organization should be commended for its dedication to the soldiers as well.

“The members of Heartland Heroes Project imagine themselves in the soldiers’ shoes and think of what they are going through, how the are cold at night and hot during the day and worried if this will be their last mission or not,” Jabr said. “The passion for what they do, sending a little bit of home to the soldiers, is absolutely amazing.”

The project usually works by stationing themselves outside of Wal-Marts and offering lists of needed items to shoppers. The consumers who take the list buy what they can and give it to Heartland Heroes on the way out.

Baxter said that even though they offer the means for people to send the items overseas, it is the people of Southern Illinois who should be commended for being heroes.

“It’s not us, it’s all of Southern Illinois,” Baxter said. We’re just a tool people can use.”