SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Coastal Bank, a leading community bank serving coastal Georgia, has officially launched a community-wide initiative to raise money for the USO’s Operation Phone Home, which provides pre-paid phone cards to deployed military personnel to call loved ones while away from their families this holiday season. The Coastal Bank will lead a fundraising campaign for USO Operation Phone Home through November 23, 2011.
“It is our hope to put at least one phone card in the hands of every soldier in our area that is deployed during the holidays,” said Tom Wiley, chairman, president and CEO of The Coastal Bank. “We are so grateful for their selfless sacrifice and service to our nation and this campaign is a way for us to express our thanks to our brave troops.”
Members of the public are invited to join The Coastal Bank and the USO in connecting deployed soldiers from the Coastal Empire and the Lowcountry to their loved ones during the holidays. A $5 donation with a personalized message will provide a soldier with a phone card to call home. Cards will be given to deployed members of the U.S. Army, Army National Guard, Air National Guard, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Naval Reserve in December.
Anyone donating $5 or more to The Coastal Bank’s USO Operation Phone Home initiative will be entered into a drawing to win a free year of free Chick-fil-A (one free sandwich a week for one year). Two winners will be announced at the conclusion of the campaign in November.
Chick-fil-A, the Savannah Morning News, WSAV-TV and Savannah Toyota serve as community sponsors for The Coastal Bank’s 2011 USO Operation Phone Home campaign.
Members of the public can purchase a card online at www.phonehomesav.com or visit any of following Coastal Bank locations to make a donation to USO Operation Phone Home:
- Johnson Square – 18 West Bryan Street
- Stephenson Avenue – 412 Stephenson Avenue
- Pooler – 501 West Highway 80
- Godley Station – 140 Towne Center Boulevard
- Rincon – 5799 Highway 21 South
- Hinesville – 101 West Hendry Street
In 2010, The Coastal Bank raised enough money to provide 140,000 minutes of talk time to local troops during the holiday season or 1,400 phone cards total.
“Through our combined efforts and our extended reach with even more community sponsors this year, our goal is to exceed last year’s campaign,” said Mitchell Bush, president of USO of Georgia – Savannah. “With the help of Savannah’s generous spirit, we know we can reach that goal.”
Established in 2003, USO Operation Phone Home delivers prepaid international phone cards to deployed service members free of charge. As one of the most requested items from deployed service members, the prepaid international phone cards continue to be popular with service men and women. The phone cards are distributed through USO centers both overseas and in the U.S., where they are handed out to service members or are delivered directly to military units. Since the program began, more than 2.2 million phone cards have been distributed.
ABOUT THE COASTAL BANK:
The Coastal Bank is a $450 million community bank with six locations along the Georgia coast. Locally owned and operated, The Coastal Bank provides a full range of financial services, specializing in small business, consumer banking and real estate lending. Headquartered on Johnson Square in Savannah, this successful community bank has been serving the greater Savannah area since 1954. The Coastal Bank has an operations center in Pooler and branches throughout coastal Georgia. For more information about The Coastal Bank, please call (912) 201-4934 or visit www.thecoastalbank.com online.
ABOUT THE USO:
The United Service Organizations (USO) is a Congressionally-chartered non-profit organization which relies heavily on the generosity of individuals and corporations to support USO activities. Their mission is to provide programs and services to members of the U.S. military including free internet and email access, libraries, reading rooms, housing assistance, family crisis assistance, counseling and support groups. For the last 70 years, the USO has served as a bridge between the American public and the U.S military. Today, the organization delivers programs and services at more than 130 locations around the world, wherever American soldiers can be found serving our country. For more information about the USO, please visit www.uso.org online.
