Members of the 211th Engineer Battalion Sapper unit will get a short visit home.
Madison residents and businesses stepped forward with enough donations to raise the $4,770 needed to charter two busses that will take the troops on a round trip from Ft. McCoy in Wisconsin to Madison and then back to Ft. McCoy.
The 211th has finished its training and has about a week break before deployment to Afghanistan. According to the Madison Chamber of Commerce members of the unit will arrive in Madison Monday and return Oct. 23.
Chamber Director Julie Gross said response to the call for support to fund the bus trip came from a variety of sources including significant contributions from Prostrollo's, Heartland, James River Equipment and Sioux Valley.
Gross said additional support for the 211th is always welcome and inquiries can be made at the Madison VFW.
Sally Hale, a sister to one of the troop members, is also trying to provide some support for the troops. During the unit's last deployment, Hale said, one of the things troop members missed most was jerkey from Jack's Cold Storage in Madison. Hale said one thing she'd personally like to do is provide a bag of jerkey for each member of the troop.
Hale said the locker is willing to provide the jerkey at a reduced cost. Anyone willing to support her effort can provide donations to the locker by Tuesday.
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