12 year old sets up Facebook page, sells ‘hero bands’ and plans tour to ...

“He had just lost his grandmother and was beginning to get an understanding of death, so when I told him that, something clicked in his mind,” she said.

From that experience, Mrs. Edwards believes a profound love for those in service began to grow.

She said the first example of this was when he saw a young soldier getting his hair cut in a local salon. He asked his mother if that was a “real soldier” and when she replied it was, he went to the young man, a National Guardsman, and saluted him while he sat in the chair, thanked him, and told him he would pray for him.

“Everybody (in the salon) was stunned, including the young man, and we all had tears in our eyes,” Edwards remembers. She said the soldier thanked Christopher and told him he had been saluted many times, but none had meant as much as that one.

Since that time, Christopher does not let an opportunity pass him by to say “thank you” to a service man and salute him or her.

Christopher began sending care packages to another family friend who had served several tours in Iraq, and a few others, but in April, he decided to expand his efforts after he saw a news story on TV about another boy who was raising money to send care packages to as many of the troops as possible.

“He came to his dad and me and said he’d like to do something like that,” Edwards said. She didn’t understand the depth of his conviction until he said “Mom, you don’t understand, I want to send packages to all the troops.”

Edwards, who’s been out of work for the past year, said she didn’t know exactly how they were going to go about it, but she was determined to help her enthusiastic son. Christopher is home-schooled, so the project has become part of his education.

First they set up a Facebook page and decided on the name “Huddle Up for Heroes” in part because they are also big football fans.

At first there were just a few “likes,” then 25, 50 and more. A good friend and retired sergeant, Daniel Porcupile, a San Diego veteran with 22 years of service, found out about Christopher’s website through Facebook and has provided encouragement and networking through his own friends and fellow servicemen on Facebook. Currently the Facebook page has grown to over 2,000 “likes.” But along with those likes have come requests for care packages to be sent to friends and relatives overseas, a service Christopher is working to fulfill through donations and by selling his hero bands at various events.

And Porcupile has arranged to have Christopher and his mom come to San Diego for Veteran’s Day next month to visit Camp Pendleton. While there, Christopher will meet with former serviceman Nick Popditch who is running for Congress. Edwards says Popditch was driving the tank that pulled down Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad. Christopher also hopes to be able to fly in a Black Hawk aircraft, but he confesses he is most excited about meeting Porcupile’s German Shepherd and pet wolf.

On the way to San Diego, the pair will stop in eight cities (Birmingham, Tupelo, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Albuquerque, Flagstaff and Phoenix) where items and money are being collected for care packages which they, along with volunteers, will help package and mail out from each city. Christopher is calling the trip the “Our Heroes Rock” tour. Their goal is to send out between 50 – 100 care packages, which will reach 500 – 1,000 servicemen and women. On the way home, they will make a visit to another serviceman in Ohio who refers to Christopher as his “little brother,” and who will present him with his own NCO sword.

“Most of all, we hope to raise awareness and support for out troops who are still serving overseas,” Edwards said. “We want to make them think ‘if a kid can do it, I can do it.’ Our troops need to know they’re being supported.”

To learn more about Christopher and his mission, go to Huddle Up for Heroes on Facebook or email them at huddleupforheroes@gmail.com