Students to buy phone cards for troops

Students to buy phone cards for troops

The students are planning to purchase calling cards through their fund-raising campaign, Operation Phone Home, initiated because many troops overseas don-t have the means to call their families regularly.
Salisbury resident Debbie Zadigan, whose son Matthew enlisted in the military after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, knows first hand how important and difficult it is to hear a loved one-s voice when they-re in harm-s way. Zadigan said that her 24-year-old son has been overseas for a year and a half first in Afghanistan, where he was lucky to escape with his life after his helicopter was shot down, and now in Iraq.
As a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne, Matthew has seen action. And although Debbie is proud of her son, she worries. He-s in one of Saddam Hussein-s palaces right now, not far from where the American Embassy was bombed during the recent Iraqi elections, she said. I don-t think it-s safe anywhere there.
The family has been in touch with Matthew mostly through e-mail. Phone calls are an expensive luxury on his base. Though Debbie and her husband, Edward, bought their son an $80 phone card, they were disappointed to learn that the 1,000 minutes it promised would only be good for 350 minutes of international calls.
Still, they found speaking with their son once a week comforting. Matthew told his parents that many soldiers in his unit weren-t so lucky. They couldn-t afford calling cards.
Carol Macchia, a PTA member at Bowling Green Elementary School, which Matthew attended, also has a nephew stationed in Iraq, and proposed a way to help troops overseas phone their families. Kids in Valley Stream had raised money to buy calling cards for my nephew-s unit, Macchia said. I thought we could do the same thing at Bowling Green for Matthew Zadigan-s unit. Operation Phone Home has been very successful at Bowling Green.
Students have been selling handmade stars for $5 and hearts for $2. The cutouts have provided a unique opportunity for the community to share its support and appreciation for the soldiers in Iraq. Those who-ve purchased the hearts and stars are returning them to the school with thoughtful messages and words of encouragement.
Plans are in the works to create an American flag out of the hearts and stars, which Bowling Green will send along with phone cards for each soldier in Matthew-s unit. The mailing is planned for March.
We-ll be giving a check to the post office, Macchia said. And once the minutes are exhausted on the phone cards, the post office will replenish them indefinitely.
Bowling Green Vice Principal Rich Lagattolla believes Operation Phone Home has taught the children a great deal. We spend a lot of time on reading, writing and arithmetic, especially with the state standards we have to now meet, Lagattolla said. Operation Phone Home allows us to touch on character education in the school. This is one of the many ways we can work with the kids to help the community.