Soccer is known and loved around the world, and what better way for an American solider to help spread joy and peace than with such a simple gift as a soccer ball.

Bill and Mary Phillips of Hudson are working with Brad Ryder, who owns Epic Sports in downtown Bangor, to send soccer balls to their stepgrandson, Adam Cambridge, who is serving with the military in Iraq.

Ryder has made soccer balls available at wholesale cost to those who wish to purchase them and have them signed by local children for their peers in Iraq.

The Phillipses are collecting the balls and mailing them to Cambridge, who is distributing them to the many groups of children he interacts with on a daily basis as well as to other soldiers traveling in different parts of Iraq.

“He called us Christmas Day to say how thrilled he is to do it,” Phillips said of this special project, “and to say how wonderful it is to see all the names” on the soccer balls.

Phillips believes approximately three dozen balls have been mailed to his stepgrandson.

Cambridge, the son of Mike and Kathy Ouellette of Old Town and Tom Cambridge of Glenburn, has nearly completed his degree requirements for a double major in philosophy and psychology at the University of Maine in Orono.

If you wish to sponsor a soccer ball for Iraqi children, for just $15 including postage, you can do so by visiting Epic Sports at 6 Central St. in Bangor.

If this is not convenient, call Bill Phillips at 827-0454, and he will make other arrangements.

Phillips said if he is informed no more soccer balls are needed, he plans to ask for other suggestions from Cambridge to continue this effort the family considers a “Peaceabilities Project.”

This particular family project, by the way, grew out of one started by a nephew, Brian Paolillo of Connecticut. While he was serving with the military in Kosovo and Iraq, he asked family members and friends for toys and school supplies for children there.

Today it is soccer balls this family is seeking, but tomorrow it could be toys and school supplies.

Adam Damon, the 2-year-old son of Bruce and Michelle Damon of Orland, was recently diagnosed with a malignant Sertoli cell tumor.

After surgery in Bangor, the family awaits results of further consultation at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Friends and community members are planning a benefit lasagna supper for the family with sittings at 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at Orland Methodist Parish Hall.

Admission is a donation of $6 for adults and $4 for children.

If anyone can help, or make a donation, call Jean Sargent at Orland Consolidated School, 469-2272.

You can learn about this absolutely beautiful little boy at www.caringbridge.org, clicking on “visit” and typing “adamdamon.”

You may recall reading here last month about the March of Dimes “Dime Drive” being conducted in area schools and with local Key Clubs, which began Jan. 1 and runs through the end of the month.

The school that raises the most money will win the services of a Z107.3 DJ at a school dance, and one student will be a Z107.3 DJ for a day.

The Brewer High School Key Club is hosting an Up-All-Night-A-Thon, open to all BHS students, 10 p.m.-5 a.m. Friday, Jan. 27, at BHS.

Students must raise a minimum of $25 in pledges to attend, with a minimum of $20 going directly to the March of Dimes to help in the fight against birth defects.

Any student wishing to participate should contact his or her homeroom teacher, BHS Key Club adviser Mike Hutchins or any BHS Key Club member.

The event will feature a Taboo tournament, board and video games, movies, volleyball, capture the flag and other events.

Key Club members will serve pizza, courtesy of donations from Pizza Hut and DiSalvo’s in Brewer, and Spanky’s Pizza and Sam’s Club in Bangor.

The student raising the most money receives a prize, and other prizes will be given out during the evening.

And while the donated pizza will help defray the cost of hosting this event, members of the BHS Key Club are soliciting desserts.

They ask you call Hutchins at 989-4140, or Cindy Ault at the March of Dimes office, 989-3376, if you can contribute a dessert for this fundraiser.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.