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‘Help Our Troops Call Home’ nearing $8 million
DALLAS -- Just five years after the Army & Air Force Exchange Service introduced a phone card program to keep American troops in touch with their Families back home, contributions are already about to surpass $8 million.
As of the end of May, contributions to "Help Our Troops Call Home," have generated $7,984,830 in telecommunications support for Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines.
"To be approaching $8 million just five years into the program is a testament to the value Military Exchange Global prepaid phone cards offer both the sender and receiver," said AAFES' senior enlisted advisor Chief Master Sgt. Jeffry Helm. "With the 4th of July just around the corner, we hope the American public will continue partnering with us to find affordable ways to keep the lines of communication between the home front and the front lines open."
Since the inception of "Help Our Troops Call Home" in March 2004, 174,030 individual orders for approximately 349,000 phone cards have been sent. More than 30,000 of those have been earmarked for "any service member" and distributed via charities such as the American Red Cross, Air Force Aid Society, Fisher House Foundation, Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, Soldier & Family Assistance Center and USO, with the remainder going to specific Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines.
By simply logging on to www.aafes.org or calling 800-527-2345, friends, family members and even civic groups can take part in the "Help Our Troops Call Home" effort by sending any one of three Military Exchange Global Prepaid Phone cards, including a 550-minute denomination card capable of providing more than two hours of call time from any of 69 phone centers in Iraq, Afghanistan or Kuwait to the United States.