Marine foundation auctioning hats

The Huntington Beach 3/1 Marines Foundation will be sending hundreds of care packages to soldiers in Afghanistan, but the postage isn’t cheap.

Mailing the packages cost more than $7,000 last year, so the foundation is hosting a “Hats off to Heroes” fundraiser to offset the costs.

“I think people think there is some kind of military plane that takes these over, but there isn’t,” said Cindy Cross with the foundation.

The fundraiser will auction off more than a dozen white baseball caps signed by celebrities to support Huntington’s battalion. The city adopted the “Thundering Third,” the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines.

The hats will be auctioned off on EBay after Thanksgiving, and bids are expected to start between $50 and $100, Cross said. The foundation will post the seller information on www.hb4marines.org.

William Shatner, Gene Simmons, Carrie Underwood, Bob Newhart, Clint Eastwood and John Madden signed hats. Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell, Saturday Night Live alumnus and Fox News contributor Dennis Miller, Barbra Streisand, Donald Trump and Adam Sandler also participated.

Jerry Lewis signed a hat and sent one of his own. Tom Hanks signed and posed for a picture wearing it and former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush donated a signed picture of them fishing together instead of hats.

The foundation is sending out another round of hats to celebrities, Cross said.

Care packages will start going out after the Marines are deployed in April. The foundation adopted the battalion in 2005 and is dedicated to supporting the Marines and their families.

For more information, call Cross at (714) 375-3131.

— Britney Barnes