Freedom Calls Foundation

I subscribe to an online blog written by Karen Klasi for the DC Military Families Examiner.. Karen posted the following article on Thursday of last week. It warms my heart to find these occasional "feel good" stories, particulary when the military is involved. It seems we generally hear more negative than positive, so I was more than happy to read this...

"Freedom Calls Foundation makes it possible for deployed dads to attend the births of their children"

February 5, 2:16 PM
by Karen Klasi, DC Military Families Examiner
It's no surprise to a military spouse to hear of a child born with his or her father deployed overseas. While unthinkable to civilians, it's simply a fact of our lives. I know women who have delivered multiple children without their partner, their love, their other half by their side. When shown the proper sympathy, outrage, or disbelief that they dared this monumental feat on their own, they just shrug and drive the conversation onward. Military spouses are a tough breed, accustomed to bearing their burdens with little or no fanfare.

Thankfully, the Freedom Calls Foundation works tirelessly to ease this particular burden. Last weekend alone there were five births in the United States beamed overseas to military service members.

According the their website, The Freedom Calls Foundation employs, "state of the art Wi-Fi, VOIP telephony, Video Conferencing and Satcom technology to enable our troops to communicate free of charge from their base camps with their families at home by internet telephone, instant messaging and video conference." By doing this, they provide military families more than 2,000 family video conferences and more than 1.5 million minutes of free telephone calls each week.

A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article tells the story of Connor William St. Clair, whose dad joined in his birth from Al Kasik, Iraq. "He was right at my shoulder through giving birth," said Tracy St. Clair, "I could see him."

Freedom Calls is a 501(c)(3) designated non profit organization and is supported entirely by donations from the public. The teleconference and Internet connections are free to military families and cost the organization around $1,000 a day.

Should you be interested in reading more of Karen Klasi's blog articles, visit her site here.