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A real football would make this boy�s holiday EDITOR�S NOTE: "Light One Candle" is an annual Christmas feature that focuses on a single need of a person, family or agency during the holidays. Forget the PlayStation 2 or the fancy gym shoes. For one 8-year-old Medford boy, holiday joy boils down to one thing: a football. "NOT a Nerf football, a REAL football," the boy wrote in a list for Kids Unlimited, the Medford nonprofit agency that runs his after-school program. After years of practicing passes with a foam football, the boy caught on to the real thing this fall playing on a recreational league team. The experience was pivotal for the boy, whose mother is a drug addict just released from treatment. His father is in prison. "He lives in a two-room house with six brothers and sisters, so his mom is working hard just to provide for all those kids," says Tom Cole, director of Kids Unlimited. "But he�s an awesome kid with a great spirit." A real football would inspire the boy to continue playing, and it just might convince him that kindness exists in the world, Cole says. Donations can be made at the Kids Unlimited Medford office in the VIBES teen center, 1 E. Main St., Medford. For more information, call 774-3900. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.