AAFES Supports Deployed Troops With Public Phone Card Sales

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2004 -- The Defense Department has granted approval for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service to sell prepaid phone cards to the general public for donation to Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom service members.

By law, only patrons with military exchange privileges can shop at AAFES retail stores, but officials announced this week that the exchange service would begin selling phone cards to normally ineligible people and organizations on its Web site.

"It is truly an effort by the Office of the Secretary of Defense to reach out and to make sure that we keep our troops connected to home," Army Maj. Gen. Kathryn Frost, AAFES commander, explained. "Everybody wants to do something for the troops to let them know they care, and this is a way they can do it."

The general said hundreds of people and several civic organization have called wanting to make a purchase since word got out about the program.

Those wishing to purchase the cards can log on to the site and click on the "Help Our Troops Call Home" icon. The cards can be designated for an individual service member, or sent to "any service member" and distributed by the American Red Cross.

Frost said phone cards also can be donated to the Air Force Aid Society and Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, as well as the Fisher House. All are nonprofit charitable organizations that support service members and their families in need.

AAFES officials said most calls from the Middle East to the United States originate from one of their 54 calls centers. AAFES has four phone centers in Afghanistan with 98 phones in operation, 19 in Kuwait with 571 phones, and 31 in Iraq, with 936 phones.

Frost said new phone centers will added as requirements are identified throughout the U.S. Central Command area of operations.

The average price for a call is 32 cents per minute from Iraq and Afghanistan, and 19 cents per minute from Kuwait.

The AAFES price is about 8 cents per minute cheaper than its closest competitor, according to Frost. And beginning May 1, she said, the price per minute when calling from Iraq and Afghanistan will be reduced from 32 cents per minute to 25 cents per minute when using the 550-unit prepaid card.

The general emphasized that the special 25-cent rate applies only to 550-unit prepaid cards purchased from AAFES post or base exchanges and other contingency operation stores operating in the theater of operations, she said.

AAFES also is allowing normally ineligible patrons and organizations to purchase gift certificates for deployed service members through its "Gifts from the Homefront" program, Frost said. The certificates are sold by a commercial vendor through the AAFES Web site or by calling (877) 770-4438, toll-free. She said the certificates can be sent to service members overseas and used for purchases at AAFES facilities.

AAFES is a joint command of the Army and Air Force for authorized patrons to buy goods and services. The organization donates a percentage of its earnings to military morale, welfare and recreation programs.

According to its annual report, AAFES donated about $229 million to MWR activities in 2003. Frost said a percentage of the proceeds from phone cards sales will go to MWR funds.

"So when Americans buy the cards, they are helping troops in two ways: They're connecting them to home, and they're contributing to morale, welfare and recreation programs."

Good site!

Here's another worthy cause:

Nonprofit Group To Build Homes for Disabled Troops
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2004 — Concerned about the welfare of troops returning home with disabilities from the war on terror, a new nonprofit group is raising money to build houses adapted to their needs.

Homes for Our Troops founder John Gonsalves, left, discusses plans for the group to build a house for Sgt. Peter Damon during Damon's treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Courtesy photo

Homes for Our Troops is the brainchild of John Gonsalves, a construction supervisor from Wareham, Mass., who said he was struck by television news accounts of a humvee driver in Iraq who lost two legs during a rocket-propelled grenade attack. "I remember watching that and wondering, 'What happens to him from here?'" Gonsalves said.

Gonsalves said that news story inspired him to volunteer his services to an organization that builds houses for disabled troops — but he couldn't find one. "That planted the seed for Homes for Our Troops," he said. "I knew that if I didn't get a group together and try to do this, it would haunt me the rest of my life."

When he launched Homes for Our Troops, Gonsalves admitted that he "knew nothing about nonprofits, but I did know how to build a house." He'd built houses adapted for people with special needs, incorporating ramps, wider doors and hallways, and lower sinks and counters, among other features.

Today, seven weeks after Homes for Our Troops began raising money, more than $100,000 in donations has rolled in, as well as $50,000 in labor and building materials. "Feedback has been phenomenal," said Gonsalves, who said he has received donations from all over the United States.

Homes for Our Troops hopes to break ground soon for its first project, a house for Sgt. Peter Damon, a Massachusetts National Guard soldier who lost his right arm above the elbow and his left hand and wrist in Iraq when a Black Hawk helicopter tire he was changing exploded.

Gonsalves said he hopes to have several houses under construction by this summer if fundraising continues at its current pace. "There's more than enough money in this country to do something like that," he said.

He encourages donors to give, regardless of the amount. "It doesn't have to be a large amount. It all adds up," he said.

Gonsalves said Homes for Our Troops is a way for Americans — many of whom he said have gone on with their daily lives with little personal contribution to the terror war or awareness about how to make one — to help repay the debt they owe to the men and women in uniform.

"The war on terror is something the American people should all be a part of — not just the people on the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq," Gonsalves said. "As Americans, we have a responsibility to do more for our veterans who are out there fighting every day and putting their lives on the line."

To make a donation to Homes for Our Troops, visit the organization's Web site or write: Homes for Our Troops, Inc., P.O. Box 615, Buzzards Bay, MA 02532.

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