Grateful U.S. troops receive video boost

Simcha Waisman knows firsthand what it’s like to be a soldier on deployment, separated from family for long stretches of time. Waisman, President of the One Stop Richmond Hill Community Center, served in the Israeli Defense Forces, and was frequently away from home for months on end.
“I missed my family, I missed my neighborhood. Everyday it’s something else coming up on you that you miss,” he said.
It is no wonder that Waisman was ecstatic when One Stop was approached by Tandberg, the company that produces the technology for the center’s youth videoconferencing program, about hosting a videoconference between soldiers in Iraq and their families back home in Queens.
“Just writing letters, talking to them on the phone is nice, but here you see them live - it’s different,” Waisman said.
Tandberg partnered with Freedom Calls Foundation, a non-profit organization that facilitates communication between troops in Iraq and their families, three years ago to provide loved ones with innovative ways to connect over long distances. However, July 1 will be the first time that Tandberg clients, such as One Stop, will become Freedom Calls videoconference host sites.
“This is the first time we’re partnering with our customers, going into the communities this way,” said Lisa Watts, Tandberg’s eastern region marketing manager. Watts explained that close to 40 families nationwide have already registered for the July 1 videoconferences at around 10 Tandberg locations and 10-15 additional locations like One Stop. Each family will have a 30-minute window to communicate in private.
“We usually do it around a major holiday like Mother’s Day, Christmas time, Valentine’s Day,” Watts said, explaining the timing of the event just a few days before July 4.
As a veteran soldier, Waisman understands the importance of communicating with family around the holidays, but also knows that a connection to home is precious any day of the year.
“It’s about bringing loved ones together when they serve overseas and making them comfortable and making them understand that nobody abandoned them,” he said. “I think it’s going to strengthen the soldiers to see that people really care about what they’re doing and where they’re going.”
For many soldiers who are going anywhere but home in the next few months, a face-to-face videoconference with their families at One Stop will likely be a much-appreciated reminder of what awaits them in Queens.