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United Methodists help soldiers phone home
By Kathy L. Gilbert
United Methodist News Service
Mikita and James Green are newlyweds who have spent most of their married life thousands of miles apart.
It has become a familiar story. A young couple planning a big wedding is suddenly forced to go to a courthouse for a quick civil ceremony before one of them is deployed to Iraq.
James Green, a National Guard reservist, was called into active duty, so instead of a May wedding he went to war.
For them, and countless others, phone calls home have become a lifeline.
Generous United Methodists have opened their hearts and pocketbooks and given many U.S. soldiers one of the most precious gifts of all time to talk to their loved ones.
On Veterans Day, Nov. 11, the United Methodist Endorsing Agency, Board of Higher Education and Ministry the agency that oversees military chaplains endorsed by the church sent out a message asking church members to consider sending long-distance phone cards to soldiers.
To date, the agency has received letters containing 1,326 cards with 133,375 minutes from 24 states. Those have been distributed through 42 United Methodist chaplains to soldiers around the world.
"Weve got cookies and Gatorade. Weve got e-mail and Armed Forces Network television. What we dont have, and cant get back, is time lost with our loved ones," says Maj. Matt Woodbery, an Army chaplain serving in Iraq.
"Phone cards are a wonderful gift of time with our loved ones, even if it is brief and on the phone. We are very thankful for the love of our fellow citizens and brothers and sisters in Christ."
The Rev. Greg Hill, a director with the agency and a retired Army colonel, says this project is reaching countless young men and women and sending them a message of love from the church.
While the cards are given to United Methodist chaplains, they are also distributed to any soldier who expresses a need to call home, he says.
"In my particular area, I can say we are allotted two 15-minute phone calls a week on Uncle Sam," says Capt. Jack Stanley, an Air Force chaplain stationed in Italy and currently deployed to the desert. Stanley says the phone cards came in handy recently when a soldier was having marital problems and trying to work things out via phone calls.
"When his 15 minutes are up, the fact that he has to hang up makes it almost worse than not having called at all," he says. "Thanks to these phone cards, I can help him out."
The chaplain endorsing agency has received many e-mail messages expressing how much the cards mean to the soldiers.
"I quickly wanted to take a moment to say again thank you for the calling cards," writes Cmdr. Rendell Rozier, a Navy chaplain serving in Okinawa, Japan. "I wish it was possible for those involved to see the faces of our young sailors and Marines as they were given a calling card on behalf of Gods love and a grateful nation. Nearly all became speechless with senses of real surprise and immediate relief.
Cmdr. Jack Lea, a chaplain with the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, Djibouti, Africa, says he uses the cards as morale boosters for the junior people and to provide connectivity in the event of a pastoral emergency a death or need to call home immediately.
Mikita Green says she spent two weeks in agony when James was first shipped to Iraq because phone lines had not been set up yet.
I was wishing I could hear his voice and make sure he was all right, she said.
James says being able to talk to his wife lifts his spirits and is a blessing.
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