Roses to Chapel Hill Tire Car Care Center, which recently donated dozens of soccer balls to a Triangle-area nonprofit organization that will distribute them to children in war-torn Afghanistan.

Chapel Hill Tire, which has been in operation here for more than 50 years, makes a habit every year of donating soccer balls and other athletic equipment to Rainbow Soccer, the North Chatham Soccer League and other youth sports organizations.

This year, owner Marc Pons happened upon a story about a program called Operation: Andy's Gift. Begun by Air Force Captain Andrew Stewart, now on his third tour of duty in the Middle East, the project collects soccer balls and other equipment from the U.S. and sends them to Afghanistan, where the U.S. military, Afghan military and civilians distribute them to children.

Chapel Hill Tire had more soccer balls than the local organizations needed. So, Pons said, "it just made sense to share. And, best of all, we could double-dip on this cause and do two good deeds: we could give balls to our community soccer leagues and send balls to this awesome cause."

The Car Care Center's donation helped the family-run effort reach its goal of collecting and shipping 1,000 soccer balls before Stewart returns to the States this summer.

Even children in troubled regions need an opportunity to play and be children, and soccer is an ideal sport for difficult regions. It is popular worldwide, and, as Emily Goatcher, Stewart's sister, said, "a ball and a group of friends are all a child needs to enjoy the game."

The diversion and pleasure the kids will gain thanks to Stewart's program and donors such as Chapel Hill Tire will make a big difference in a troubled region. Sometimes a game is more than just a game.

Roses to Anoop Desai, whose thrilling ride through "American Idol" finally came to an end last week, just short of his ultimate goal.

Desai, a native of Chapel Hill who sang with a capella groups at East Chapel Hill High and UNC, was just one of the thousands of hopefuls who began the "Idol" season when he auditioned in Kansas City last summer. He made the cut there, stayed in the competition and kept advancing.

He missed out on his first chance to make the finals, but he got one more opportunity in what is called the wild card round. There, when the judges announced the final 12 competitors, Desai was not among them. But, in a dramatic last-second turnaround, the judges announced they were expanding the field to 13 in order to keep Desai in the contest.

He made the top six, and then his run of close calls finally came to an end when he was voted off the show.

Despite that, Desai did himself and his hometown proud. During his appearances, he never let viewers forget where he was from; he spoke about Eve Carson, about the NCAA basketball championship and about his love of Chapel Hill. Afterward, he said that he couldn't wait to get back to town for a Sunrise biscuit.

One of his biggest reasons for auditioning for the show in the first place, he said, was that he "wanted to make Chapel Hill proud."

Mission accomplished.

Please send suggestions for Roses & Raspberries to Dave Hart, associate editor, at dhart@nando.com. Thanks.