List of donations

We've listed the people who have made donations for Eric's Goal here but we also wanted to give an update on exactly what has been donated. There will be a permanent link to this list under Links on the left side of the page.

We did not achieve 5,000 balls by the end of 2006 but we continue to collect soccer balls and other equipment to send to Iraqi children through our troops in the field. Here is the very impressive list of donated equipment:

Soccer balls: 3,567
Pumps 96
Pairs of indoor shoes or cleats: 211
Shin guards: 163
Team vests: 70
Cones: 57
Net bags: 24
Cloth bags: 15
Goalie Gloves: 32
Socks: 408
Jerseys: 789
Jackets: 9
Shorts: 905
Pants: 13
T-shirts: 296
Corner flags: 1
Electric pumps: 1
Trophies: 4
Kids soccer kit: 1
Athletic supports: 1
Medals: 63
Compression sleeve: 1
Donations: $8,216.24 (used to pay postage and purchase equipment)

Thanks for all of the generosity!

Last updated: 2/15/08

Berkeley Jets Soccer Team

Tim Wagner and fellow Berkeley Jets (Berkeley, CA) team mates have made contributions to Eric's Goal several times now! In 2007 they collected monetary donations which were used to purchase and ship soccer balls to our soldiers in Iraq. In late 2007 Tim collected uniforms for the Iraqi children and they were sent just last week.

Thank you Berkeley Jets, and especially Tim Wagner for your continued support! It is great to see donations coming from generous people across America, from coast to coast!

Weiser High School Auto Club Donation!!

We received a donation all the way from Idaho! The "knucklebusters" of the Weiser High School Auto Club got together with the help of their advisor, Don Schultz to collect soccer balls for the Iraqi children. They sent us 15 soccer balls, 2 jerseys, 1 ball pump, 3 basketballs & 1 playground ball!

Thank you knucklebusters! Your donations have been sent to American military personel for distribution to the Iraqi children!

More equipment distributed to kids!

We received an email today regarding the soccer balls and equipment that we recently sent out to various US soldiers around Iraq. James, a friend of Eric's currently deployed in Iraq, was sent seven boxes of soccer balls, cleats, shin guards, jerseys, shorts, socks and other equipment to distribute.

He tells us that the equipment arrived safely and he and his men started distributing it as soon as possible.

James says "We distributed the soccer equipment through the Neighborhood Administrative Council in our area last week. A local soccer team received most of the equipment, particularly the shin guards, cleats, and group equipment, and we passed out the remainder to other local kids and teens. The Iraqi Army also helped out."

He goes on to say "We received a very positive response, and it's helped us out a lot by strengthening our relationship with the local government."

Thanks so much to James and his men for their help in distributing equipment and soccer balls to the kids of Iraq. It's so great to hear that the Iraqi Army was also helping and that it was a team effort to distribute the equipment!

Message from a soldier:

Even during this holiday season, our military are not only protecting our country, but taking time out to hand out soccer balls to the Iraqi children. Below is a quote from one of the soldiers we recently sent soccer balls to. Adam is employing the assistance of Marines to distribute the balls we sent to him.

"You guys are doing great things. Obviously you can see only so much in a picture; to see/feel these children’s faces light up when they see a soccer ball is something that cannot be conveyed in a picture or words. You have brought joy to the lives of so many that are less fortunate than us. Keep up the good work and please pass along my gratitude to my other friends at ERIC’S GOAL, INC.

Sincerely, Adam"

Adam is going to send photos once they are forwarded to him, and we will post them for you!

Many thanks to Adam and to his U. S. Marine friends as well! May you all have a safe and Merry Christmas! And may you know how much we all appreciate you today and every day!

Pics from latest ball packing party

Last week we descended on the Roles household to deflate and pack up many boxes to send out to soldiers. We had ourselves a little ball packing party and I took some pics to share. Eric's sister Jacki and cousin, Vicky and her fiance Josh all helped out Trudy and I. Even our puppy Qase helped out some! We had a lot of fun packing up the boxes and deflating those balls!

Trudy and I mailed the boxes on Saturday lunchtime; we had 10 boxes to send out. Luckily the post office wasn't very busy so we didn't inconvenience too many people with our LARGE items to mail. We did get some funny looks carting the 10 boxes into the post office!! And we still have 20 boxes to send!

Pete Noell's Fantastic Collection for Eric's Goal

Pete Noell who lives near Philadelphia, PA collected a van load of soccer balls, uniforms and equipment for the Iraqi children!
Many thanks to Pete, the Langhorne Athletic Assoc, Mapel Point Middle School, and Pete's friend at Boeing for their contributions! Check out the chart below with the listing of all of the donations collected!


Pete's son Nick, who is a Langhorne striker, helped with the collection. And his daughter Kristin wrote "Peace" in English and Arabic on the soccer balls! Our thanks to Nick & Kristin for their participation in this incredible collection!

This brings our total number of soccer balls collected for the Iraqi children to 3,552!
Many thanks to Pete, Nick & Kristin Noell, Pete's friend from Boeing, Mapel Point Middle School and the Langhorne Athletic Association for your generous donations! Our thanks to each individual for your contribution. You will brighten the lives of many Iraqi children!