Military Officer - November 2007 - (Page 59)

“We don’t consider this to be charity,” he says. “It’s a duty when I think of blessing families. Many times the support we provide is unexpected. We consider it a privilege to help these families who have sacriﬁced on our behalf.” Eighty percent of Fisher House’s support comes from individuals, the rest is from corporate sources, Coker says. One of those corporate sources is TriWest Healthcare Alliance, the TRICARE administrator in the western U.S. TriWest has donated millions to Fisher House and has supported other military-related nonproﬁts, including the USO, the National Military Family Association (NMFA), and the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). “We are very proud of our corporate contributions program,” says David McIntyre, TriWest’s president and CEO. “It is a vital component of TriWest’s continuum of care and support we proudly provide to America’s military family.” AT&T, which is contracted to provide calling cards and service calling centers to troops through the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), is another corporation giving back to the military community. Since 2000, the company has donated nearly $8 million worth of prepaid phone cards to servicemembers, and in July it opened all of its 1,800 company-owned wireless stores to “Cell Phones for Soldiers,” a program that collects recycled phones and helps raise money to send free phone cards to deployed military members. Since 2004, “Cell Phones for Soldiers” has raised more than $1 million and distributed more than 75,000 phone cards. “AT&T and its employees are deeply grateful for the sacriﬁces that our military personnel make every day for our nation, and we want to do what we can to help ensure that they have an affordable way to call home,” says Amanda Ray, a spokesperson for AT&T. “We’re glad to support these efforts, because they help keep military families connected.” Both AT&T and TriWest are among 30 corporations that are part of America Supports You (ASY), a DoD program launched in 2004 to connect private and corporate sponsors nationwide with troops and military families. More than 250 nonproﬁt groups are part of the ASY team and have sent more than 3 million care packages to troops, provided assistance to more than 100,000 military families, and donated more than $4.6 million to servicemembers and their families. At the heart of these groups are ordinary Americans, many without a family member in the armed forces, who support the military community in resourceful and creative ways. For more information: America Supports You: www.americasupportsyou.mil AT&T’s Cell Phones for Soldiers: www.cellphonesfor soldiers.com The Fisher House Foundation: www.ﬁsherhouse.org Comfort for the Wounded Dee Jerge considers herself an average seamstress, but that hasn’t stopped her from sewing more than 400 colorful blankets for wounded troops. “It seems like such a simple thing, but it means something on the other side, that a stranger took the time to do this,” says Jerge, who lives in San Diego. Jerge makes the blankets for “Blankets of Hope,” which is part of Soldiers’ Angels, an all-volunteer group dedicated to helping servicemembers and families. The group sends sympathy cards, hangs quilts, and plants memorial trees for family members who have lost loved “It seems like such a simple thing, but it means something on the other side, that a stranger took the time to do this.” — Dee Jerge NOVEMBER 2007 MILITARY OFFICER 59 http://www.americasupportsyou.mil http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com http://www.fisherhouse.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - November 2007

Military Officer - November 2007 Contents From the Editor President’s Page Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Chapters in Action Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Cover Story: Commanding the Corps With Love, From Home Financial Guidebook Financial Tuneups Banking on Your Time Pages of History MOAA Scholarship Recipients Faces of MOAA MOAA Scholarship Donors Member Books Advertising Index MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps MOAA Member Services Encore

Military Officer - November 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.