Washington — AT&T and the USO are teaming to give convalescing Soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Hospital the ability to call friends and loved ones around the country.

The organizations have partnered to provide 11,120 60-minute AT&T Prepaid Phone Cards to patients at the hospital. AT&T is donating the cards to the USO, which will then distribute the cards to Walter Reed patients.

The cards represent a retail value of $100,000.

«Prepaid Phone Cards represent a real lifeline to military personnel trying to keep in touch with the people important to them,» said Cathy Martine, AT&T Senior Vice President-Internet Telephony, Consumer Marketing and Sales. «In fact, the vast majority of prepaid users fall into three categories: military personnel, retirees and low-income consumers. Indeed, for recent immigrants and the poorest of the poor, prepaid cards are often a substitute for wired or wireless phone service and are their only way to make telephone calls. As such, prepaid cards are the only ’dialtone’ available to these consumers.»

Referring to medical facilities involved in treating war wounded, Martine noted «We recognized early on the importance our cards play for these brave service members. That’s why we’re making sure to keep Rota, Landstuhl, the U. S. S. Comfort and Walter Reed stocked with a ready supply of AT&T Global PrePaid Cards.»

Since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom and then Operation Iraqi Freedom, AT&T has donated its PrePaid Phone Cards with a face value of more than 25 million minutes to a number of military and civic organizations — including new non-profit organizations such as Operation Gratitude — that have organized to assemble and deliver care packages to troops in harm’s way.

«AT&T PrePaid Phone Cards are the most requested item,» said Carolyn Blashek, founder of Operation Gratitude, an Encino, Calif.-based group organized to support all military personnel deployed overseas. Blashek’s organization was originally brought to AT&T’s attention by television personality Wayne Brady and has received more than 10,000 AT&T cards to date.

«With the beginning of hostilities in the Middle East, AT&T asked for our assistance to help donate $4 million worth of their PrePaid Phone Cards,» said Ned Powell, USO President and Chief Executive Officer. «These cards go a long way to help them reach out to family and friends, a very important component in their recovery,» he added.