Topeka ? As Kansans make preparations for the holidays, state officials are asking them to set aside a little money to make Christmas a bit merrier for 430 National Guard members training in Texas.

The members of the 1st Battalion, 161st Field Artillery based in Wichita and south-central Kansas are at Fort Bliss to finish training for an upcoming deployment to Iraq. They will have Dec. 23 through Jan. 2 off, but federal regulations prevent the Kansas National Guard from using any of its own money to bring the troops home for Christmas.

On Monday, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius issued an appeal to Kansans to consider making a donation to a National Guard foundation to pay for the troops to travel back to the state. It will take about $50,000 to get them to Kansas and return them after Christmas to Fort Bliss, located on the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso.

Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, adjutant general of the Kansas National Guard, said federal regulations prohibit state units from assisting troops once they are on federal active duty.

“I think it’s an unintended consequence of those rules, but it’s a consequence nonetheless,” Bunting said. “It’s important to bring them home and it’s heartwarming that people would even respond.”

The Kansas troops are deploying to Iraq with the 45th Infantry Brigade of the Oklahoma National Guard. That state is trying to raise about $600,000 to get its 2,300 Guard members home for the holiday on buses. The units will be doing security missions in Iraq, including assisting Iraqis with the operations of military prisons.

It is the largest holiday travel project the Oklahoma National Guard has undertaken, said Lt. Col. John Altebaumer, a spokesman. Previous efforts were financed by Wal-Mart and two American Indian nations to move about 400 soldiers.

“It’s gone very, very well. It looks like we’re going to get them all home,” he said.

Altebaumer said an additional 150 soldiers from a Maryland National Guard unit will be picked up by C-130 transport planes already conducting a training mission and flown to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. They will return the same way.

Bunting said that without other arrangements, the Kansas Guard members would be sitting at Fort Bliss with nothing to do while training shuts down for Christmas. Bunting said Sebelius volunteered to help after the Guard told her that it was trying to raise money to bring the troops home.

Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said the governor and her husband contributed to the effort, but Corcoran declined to provide the amount.

“She was the first in our office to move forward once the issue was brought to her attention,” Corcoran said.

The governor’s staff has taken on the project as part of its annual holiday giving.

It has been a busy year for the unit. This summer, members of the unit were sent to southeast Kansas, where they assisted with security after flooding swamped much of Coffeyville and other communities. Some of the troops also were sent to Greensburg following a May tornado that nearly wiped out the town.