Homeless given phonecards to call mums.
Homeless and disadvantaged people are being encouraged to call their mothers today with, 2,000 free phone cards being handed out across New South Wales.
The Wesley Mission is distributing the $5 phone cards in the hope that recipients will use them to call family.
Graeme Cole from the Wesley Mission says the cards offer a rare chance for some people to make contact.
"Every day in New South Wales there are around 90 people who get turned away from homeless shelters, who don't have the opportunity to enter into the system, who are living rough on our streets," he said.
"This is a great opportunity for them to phone home to mum and say 'look Mum, I love you and want to make contact'."
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I usually carry around with me one or two 'phone cards' which I typically wind up giving away to guys at our Thursday night free suppers at Epiphany Church (an event I help supervise). The guys ask for money (which I do _not_ give) and their excuse is they want to call a relative somewhere, most often their mother or other parent. I get the cards either from a local store here in town such as Marvins or occassionally I get them free as promotional cards (good for one or two dollars in calls) from the Sprint wireless dealer. PAT]