Living a couple hours away from home and my family, I can appreciate the importance of making a phone call and hearing their voice. But I luckily also have the option of hopping in my car to pay them a visit.

 

For military men and women serving overseas, they don’t exactly have that luxury. That’s why the Red Cross provides phone cards to help our heroes call home. Take for example U.S. Army 1st Lt. Kelvin Carter.

 

In the Balk Province of Afghanistan, U.S. Army 1st Lt. Kelvin Carter was preparing to return home last year after serving a nine-month tour as a medical mentor to the ANA 209th Corps. He took a moment of down time to make a call to his family in Houston using a donated American Red Cross phone card.

"I'm not exactly sure who will read this," said Carter, "but just know that we are appreciative of everything given to us. It's good to know that someone is thinking about us and our families, and with the card, it's one less thing we have to worry about."

With the public’s generous support, the Red Cross is able to provide items such as phone cards to troops deployed overseas, as well as critical emergency communication services through its worldwide network of Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) stations.

"The American Red Cross is doing its part in breaking the communication barrier for deployed troops," said Army Sgt. Maj. James Allen. "It provides prepaid phone cards to our fighting forces so that contacting loved ones, or taking care of business back home, becomes much easier. It alleviates a lot of stress that soldiers build up from knowing that they aren't able to contact key people in their lives."

For $20, your donation purchases one Phone Card to an American hero. There’s nothing more wonderful than hearing the voice of a loved one back home. You can help our deployed service members stay in touch with family and friends, and help make being away just a little more bearable.

Kimberly