Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County
News Release
(Monday, November 16, 2009) - The Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County has opened the Freedom Calls Center located at 115 South Avenue in downtown Rochester to provide free videoconferencing services to local families and friends and their military personnel serving in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan.
Rochester’s Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 20 provided funding for the equipment to operate Freedom Calls. At the Center’s opening on November 9, Chapter 20 President Ken Moore presented a check to Dick Hamilton, Rochester Public Library Board of Trustees President and said “Chapter 20 was formed nearly 30 years ago on the founding principle that never again shall a generation of veterans abandon another. Today our support of this project is one way that will help us fulfill this commitment to our brother and sister veterans. It is with great pleasure that I can represent our 450 members in providing the funding to the Rochester Public Library.”
The Center is equipped with a 52” flat screen monitor, computer and a web camera which families and friends can use to actively communicate with their loved ones stationed at in Iraq at Camp Taji, Camp Baharia, Camp Taqaddum, Al Asad Airbase, and Camp Victory; in Kuwait at Camp Arifjan and Ali Al Saleem Airbase; and in Afghanistan at Bagram Airfield. This service is provided free of charge by the Freedom Calls Foundation, a non-profit organization working to connect families and friends to soldiers at no cost.
World War II Veteran and Library Trustee Irv Kessler said, “Times certainly have changed. How I wish I could have spoken to and seen my parents when I was serving in World War II. This service provides an incredible link between our families on the homefront and the men and women serving our country.”
Marianne Sernoffsky, Community Support Manager of Army Strong Community Center and wife of a former active-duty soldier, shared her firsthand knowledge of the importance of this type of support for soldiers and their families at home.
Anyone with a family member or friend serving at one of the participating bases can schedule use of the Center through Deborah Nevin, the library’s Program Coordinator at 428-8304. Additional information about Freedom Calls can be found on the library website at www.libraryweb.org.
Contact: Deborah Nevin, Program Coordinator, 428-8013.
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