The USO Wraps Up Successful Year, Enters 64th Year of Service

The USO Wraps Up Successful Year, Enters 64th Year of Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Tours to Iraq and Afghanistan with such celebrities as Robin Williams, James Gandolfini and David Letterman completed end-of-year USO tours, capping a successful year for the USO in its efforts to support our men and women in uniform.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20031119/USO )

Entering its 64th year, the USO continues to provide morale-boosting programs and services, along with celebrity entertainment, to enhance the quality of life for service members and their families. Expanding outreach to troops overseas, the USO opened new centers in Vicenza, Italy, and Qatar. The USO also opened a center at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, one of two in the United States serving as the focal point for troops arriving on R&R flights. The other airport is the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, which is served by the USO of Georgia.

Some of the USO's other accomplishments in 2004 include:

* Distributing thousands of care packages to troops through Operation USO
Care Package. The USO has distributed more than half-a-million care
packages since the program began in 2001.

* Distributing thousands of free, prepaid international phone cards to
service members through USO Operation Phone Home. Some 180,000 have
been distributed since 2003. Several hundred thousand also have been
included in care packages.

* Producing 55 celebrity entertainment tours, in partnership with Armed
Forces Entertainment, for some 348,000 troops in 22 countries.

* Expanding the USO's stateside entertainment tour program with visits to
military personnel and their families at military installations in the
United States.



The USO is a nonprofit, charitable organization and relies on donations to provide vital services to our men and women in uniform. To donate to the USO, call 1-800-876-7469 or visit http://www.uso.org/.

For 64 years, the USO (United Service Organizations) has brought a touch of home to America's military personnel. The USO is a congressionally chartered, nonprofit organization and is not a government agency. The USO is supported by World Partners Avon Products, Inc., AT&T Corporation, BAE SYSTEMS, Bass Pro Shops, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Clear Channel Communications, The Coca-Cola Company, Computer Systems Center, Inc., DisneyHand, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Military Channel, Morgan Stanley, National Football League, Northwest Airlines, Inc., Reader's Digest, Sara Lee, S & K Sales Company, and The USAA Foundation. Other organizations, including the United Way and Combined Federal Campaign (CFC-0600), have joined thousands of individual donors to support the USO. For more information on the USO, please visit our Web site at http://www.uso.org/.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20031119/USO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: USO

CONTACT: Donna St. John of USO, +1-703-908-6458, or dstjohn@uso.org

Web site: http://www.uso.org/


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