Eric’s Web site is www.SupportOurTroopsWithPopcorn.com
By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
Under these circumstances, it may seem like an odd gift, or a somewhat unimportant one. But think again.
This is a gift that, in your mind anyway, can bring you home, or bring home to you. And that’s the beauty of it: home. Under these circumstances – being a soldier in a war — there’s no place you’d rather be than there.
This gift is the gift of popcorn. Just as peanuts and Crackerjacks, or even the thought of them, can make you smile because you think you’re at the ballgame, popcorn can make you smile, too. It can make you think you’re at the movies with your folks, your pals, maybe even your sweetheart. Or watching something good on the tube at home with a happy crowd.
And, all pleasant associations aside, popcorn also just tastes good.
Thanks to the generosity and enterprise of local Boy Scout Eric Tatar, troops in Iraq can get a gift of popcorn from those who log onto a Web site Eric has set up. It’s www.SupportOurTroopsWithPopcorn.com.
Eric, 12, lives on Shara Lane in Hopewell Township. A seventh-grader at Timberlane Middle School, he’s a member of Pennington-based Boy Scout Troop 41.
”The Scouts have been having a popcorn program every year for awhile now,” he said. “We go door-to-door selling popcorn for good causes.”
Part of a generation that grew up with computers, Eric is one of those youngsters with a good knack for dealing with those gadgets. A visit to his Web site and $25 can help you make the day and then some for a soldier serving America overseas.
”You can buy popcorn for a troop’s family, too,” Eric said. “And if you want, you can buy some for yourself and your family or friends, too. It seemed like a good idea to go along with knocking on people’s doors to sell the popcorn.”

