Veterans' Christmas

[gailkate]

One of those stupid lefty organizations sent me this. Go to www.workingforchange.com to send your Christmas gift.

Support the veterans who've served our country by sending them a phone card so they can call their loved ones over the holidays.

Veterans Administration (VA) budget cuts in recent years have left many of our nation's veterans at VA hospitals without the means to call their families over the holidays. These long distance calls are generally not covered by the VA, and many vets just don't have the financial resources to call all their loved ones.

So Working Assets, Veterans for Peace, CODEPINK, Iraq Veterans Against the War and Gold Star Families for Peace have teamed up on a project to thank our veterans by sending them phone cards loaded with 125 minutes of domestic long-distance calling time. We'll purchase these cards and deliver them to VA Medical Facilities all over the country on December 18th. (If you want to join in delivering the cards to a VA hospital near you, just click on the link you'll see after making your gift.)

$10 will cover the cost of phone cards for three veterans. $20 will buy six phone cards. $33 will buy ten cards. $100 will buy phone cards for 30 veterans to call home over the holidays. 100% of your gift will go directly to buying phone cards -- so please give as generously as you can.



Give a Phone Card

to injured veterans at Veterans Administration hospitals.

To buy phone cards for veterans, please enter your billing address and your name as it appears on your credit card.

(Your gift is not tax deductible.)

For military addresses, enter APO or FPO in the city field and select AA, AE, or AP in the state field.

[rmn]

Thanks for this post, Gailkate.

[gailkate]

You're welcome, rmn. It's so distressing that this might be an issue. We all respond to Toys for Tots campaigns - and rightly - but we assume "someone" is looking out for vets.

[gailkate]

Update on the phone card project:
Thanks to overwhelming generosity from these communities, the project was a huge success. More than $92,000 was raised -- equaling over 24,000 phone cards with approximately 3.18 million minutes of talk time.

The first shipment of phone cards was sent to 148 different VA hospital sites on December 14th. Several dozen packages were sent directly to the hospitals; others were sent to a local coordinator for in-person delivery.

A second batch of cards went out on December 20th to five VA sites designated as Polytrauma Centers (dealing with long-term, multiple-injured veterans, mostly from Iraq & Afghanistan), as well as to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Here's what some of the Veterans Administration hospitals had to say:

"With the holidays upon us, these phone cards will enable our veterans to contact family members and loved ones at this difficult time. Your kindness and that of your supporters will contribute significantly to the recovery process and bring added joy to our veterans."
- from the VA Medical Center in San Francisco, CA

"Your thoughtful donation will help many veterans keep in touch with their families while that are receiving care in our facility. Thank you again for your donation and for remembering those who served!"
- from the VA Medical Center in Black Hills, SD


Here's what some of the volunteers who delivered the cards had to say:

"It was a very successful project, and I'm very proud of having been part of it. Congratulations to all who participated - every little bit helps as I learned from spending time with a Vietnam vet. Thank you for the opportunity - my eyes have been opened to the plight of our returned service-people."
- Salt Lake City, UT

"The Vets were astounded. Two hours of phone time is like gold to them. Many a tear was shed. Thanks to you, the holidays will be happier for lonely veterans around the country."
- San Antonio, TX

[rmn]

GK has my vote for president.

[gailkate]

Shucks, R. We all just answered a kindly call.

But if you're serious about the president part, I'll start designing bumper stickers.