Monday, February 05, 2007
Governor Culver Unveils Initiative to Connect Iowa Families to Soldiers Deployed in Iraq
Iowa Communications Network and National Guard team up with non-profit group to provide free video conferences to Iowa Soldiers, families
(Des Moines) This morning, Governor Chet Culver and Lt. Governor Patty Judge announced that Iowa service men and women serving in Iraq will be able to visit by videoconference with family members in Iowa. The Operation Hometown Link initiative is made possible through a collaboration with ICN, National Guard and the Freedom Calls Foundation.
“I’m thrilled to announce that soldiers can communicate by seeing and hearing their loved ones back home,” said Governor Culver. “The long deployments of our brave men and women in Iraq disrupt their lives and the lives of their families. By bringing this program to our soldiers, we are ensuring that these Iowans will stay connected with friends and family back home despite being thousands of miles away.”
Army Sgt. Heather Brown from Osceola is stationed in Iraq. She talked to her husband Ron Brown; her parents, Dick and Shelly Schaff of Osceola; her brother Cory Schaff; and Rob's parents, Bob and Diane Brown of Patterson who participated via an ICN connection at the Grimes building in Des Moines.
Sgt. Brown is deployed with the 133rd, and has not been home since October of 2005. Her husband Rob says he hasn’t seen his wife for 11 months. “I’m so excited to see her. She looks great. She’s really taken good care of herself.”
Freedom Calls sets up videoconferences at the following times:
Monday-Friday: 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. CST
Saturday: 7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. CST
The first videoconference session will be up to one hour long and any thereafter will be up to 30 minutes in length. Families and/or soldiers can schedule one session per month.
Governor Culver encourages families with loved ones overseas to go to www.freedomcalls.org or call Gail Geery at ICN at 515-725-4713 to set up a videoconference or to obtain more information.