June 19th 2006

RNK Telecom helps keep troops connected with free calling cards

Richard Koch, chief executive officer of RNK Telecom Inc. in Dedham, received a different kind of sales call recently. The John Foster Stafford American Legion Post No. 314 in Fall River called him looking for a way to buy pre-paid calling cards in bulk for the families of two Army National Guard units recently called up and leaving in the coming weeks for Iraq and Afghanistan.

"They wanted to see if they could buy a few hundred cards and maybe get a portion of them donated," said Koch.

They got all 2,000 cards donated, valued at $10,000. Enough for the families of two Massachusetts-based units -- one of military police and one a combat support hospital -- scheduled to be sent to the Middle East in the coming weeks, according to Koch.

While the newest donation was impromptu, the commercial telecommunications and broadband carrier has been helping the families of military personnel stay connected with members overseas since March 2003, when it kicked off the "Connect for Freedom" program with the USO of New England. The program provides free calling services for friends and families of active-duty military members in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and continues to log thousands of voice-over-Internet-protocol calls per day.

Calling cards for the most recent Army National Guard Units will be distributed to families in the coming weeks.