A veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Sgt. Gunnar Swanson, is making a 1,000-plus mile march from Texas to Minnesota.
That trek will bring him through El Dorado around Aug. 6 or 7.
He began the march on July 4 to raise funds for programs that help kids traumatically affected by war.
Swanson in enlisting the help of kids across the nation, as well as raising funds and awareness for these programs. His goal is to get kids in all 50 states to sponsor him one penny for every mile, or a total of $10, by raising money doing their own unique fundraising projects, which are showcased on his Web site.
Swanson went to Iraq in early 2003 and returned home in 2004. He served as a boat operator in the 957th Engineer Company out of Bismarck, N.D. He conducted many riverboat patrols along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, as well as many convoy operations throughout Iraq.
“One of the experiences that really affected me in Iraq had to do with the kids I met there,” he said on his Web site. “During the first few months of my tour in Iraq, we would purposefully pull our convoys over to talk to the kids who waited for us on the side of roads. They were a real morale-booster for the soldiers, and we usually stopped to hang out with them, give them some of our MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat), and trade with them.
“Unfortunately, insurgents in Iraq started to use and manipulate kids into planting roadside bombs, using them as child soldiers and even using them as suicide bombers. Since we no longer knew who was safe to be around, we were forced to stop our interactions with the kids during military missions. I think both the soldiers and the kids really experienced a sense of loss when that happened.”
After returning, he continued to want to do more for the kids he saw suffering.
“I came across War Kids Relief when searching the Internet for a way to help these kids, and as soon as I learned more about its goals I knew that being a part of this organization was my life’s mission,” he said.
War Kids Relief creates facilities, programs and expertise enabling children traumatically affected by war to realize new possibilities for their lives.
“To fund these projects, I’ve created an interactive fundraising event called ‘A Soldier’s March for Peace,’” he said.
Swanson will be stopping at selected points along the route to connect with youth groups and conduct portions of War Kids Relief’s Young Ambassador curriculum, a program that connects U.S. kids with kids in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The walk will finish in Northfield, Minn., where War Kids Relief is based.
Money raised from the walk will go to support War Kids Relief’s Young Ambassador curriculum development, as well as three other War Kids Relief projects. These projects will give Iraqi,
Afghani and even American children traumatized by war the support and the training they need to realize new possibilities for their lives.
For more information, visit the Web site at www.warkidsrelief.org.
El Dorado, Kan. —
