Cricket Helps Families of Seriously Ill Children to Stay in Touch with Loved Ones
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Sept. 25, 2008 – Cricket Communications Inc, a leading provider of unlimited wireless services, is making it easier for the families of seriously ill children to stay in touch with doctors and loved ones – at no cost to themselves.
Cricket recently donated 20 phones to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt through Katie’s Helping Hand, a charitable fund that provides meals and cell phones to families whose children are admitted to the hospital for prolonged periods of time. The Cricket phones will be used by families with children in the hospital’s cancer unit.
“Parents with a sick child rely on emotional support from their loved ones to get through traumatic hospital stays, but often times loved ones don’t live close enough to visit. With free cell phones, parents can stay connected with friends and family and don’t have to worry about the cost,” said Jane Hutson, Cricket area general manager. “Cricket is grateful for the opportunity to help parents when they need it most.”
In addition to the phone donation, Cricket will also offer free “phantom mailboxes” which allow parents to record a voicemail message with updates about their child so they don’t have to make individual calls and repeat the same update multiple times. Anyone wishing to know about the child’s condition simply calls the phantom mailbox, which may be updated as often as the parent wishes.
“Families with children suffering from life-threatening illnesses are impacted not only emotionally, but financially,” said Melissa Mitchell, mother of Katie Vacanti-Mitchell, who conceived and founded Katie’s Helping Hand after being treated for Leukemia. “By providing free cell phones to parents, Cricket is helping ease part of a heavy burden. We want to thank Cricket for its support.”
For more information about Katie's Helping Hand, visit www.katieshelpinghand.com.
About Cricket
Cricket is a simple, affordable wireless service offering consumers and local businesses a flat-rate unlimited service over the latest technology, high-quality, all-digital CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO wireless network. Designed for customers whose basic and advanced wireless needs have not been met by traditional communications companies, Cricket is the pioneer of unlimited services with no long-term commitments or credit checks required. Cricket offers customers access to a variety of the latest devices and feature-rich mobile applications such as unlimited text, instant and picture messaging, Mobile Web, popular games, ringtones and wallpapers. For more information on Cricket, visit www.mycricket.com. Cricket services are offered by Leap Wireless International, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information on Leap, visit www.leapwireless.com.
