Bush baseball to aid group supporting troops

[thedrifter]

Bush baseball to aid group supporting troops
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Mar 30, 2009 5:29:58 EDT

CINCINNATI — A baseball signed by former President George W. Bush will be auctioned off to raise money for an Ohio group known for sending boxes of donated snacks and toiletries to soldiers in Iraq.

The Yellow Ribbon Support Center says it will use proceeds from the April 9 dinner and auction to award $1,000 scholarships in the names of 53 soldiers and Marines from Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky who have lost their lives.

June Izzi Bailey, an organizer of the event, says someone already has offered $500 for the Bush-autographed baseball, which also bears the presidential seal.

The Yellow Ribbon group in suburban Cincinnati was founded by the parents of Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin, who was a 20-year-old private first class when his fuel convoy was attacked by insurgents in Iraq in April 2004. His remains were found northwest of Baghdad last year.

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Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

March 30, 2009


Bush signs baseball to help Yellow Ribbon scholarships

By Howard Wilkinson
hwilkinson@enquirer.com

The people at the Yellow Ribbon Support Center in Eastgate who invited former President George W. Bush to attend their Let Us Never Forget Dinner Dance understood when he said he couldn't make it.

But they were surprised and delighted by what the former president sent them - an autographed baseball, complete with the presidential seal, to be auctioned off.

The proceeds of its sale will go to scholarships in the names of Matt Maupin, the Union Township soldier whose capture five years ago in Iraq led to the creation of the Yellow Ribbon center, and 52 other Tristate soldiers and Marines who have died in the Iraq war.

On April 9, at the dinner-dance at the Oasis Conference Center in Loveland, that baseball, along with a host of other items, will go on the auction block.

"We've already had somebody offer $500 for it," said June Izzi Bailey, organizer of the annual dinner-dance. "And I think it's going to bring in a lot more than that."

Bush, while president, met several times with Maupin's family during the four years before U.S. soldiers found the Union Township soldier's remains in a rural area near Baghdad a year ago.

"He always had strong feelings about what happened to Matt," Bailey said. "We had hoped he could be here, but he had a schedule conflict. But he still wanted to help."

This year's dinner-dance will be the fifth to take place each April 9 since Maupin was captured by Iraqi insurgents on that date in 2004.

Bailey said that while the dinner was inspired by the story of Matt Maupin, "it is really about all of those young men from this area who have lost their lives. Their families have suffered just as much as the Maupins."

The Yellow Ribbon Support Center, Bailey said, will use proceeds from the dinner-dance to award $1,000 scholarships in the names of the soldiers and Marines from Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky who have lost their lives. The families of those 53 will choose the schools that will administer the scholarship money.

In addition, the dinner-dance will raise money for $250 scholarships in the names of military men and women from all 50 states killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Additional Facts
If you go

What: Let Us Never Forget Dinner Dance

When: April 9

Where: Oasis Conference Center in Loveland

Tickets: $50 each

Information: June Bailey at 513-831-1651; www.letusneverforget.org.

Ellie