PITTSBURGH — Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato today announced the results of the County’s seventh annual phone card drive for U.S. troops stationed overseas. Thanks to the donations of County residents, 648 phone cards with approximately 237,077 minutes of calling time will be distributed among the 171^st Air Refueling Wing, 911^th Airlift Wing, and 316^th Regional Readiness Command.

“Part of the way we can say ‘thank you’ to the troops who are protecting our freedom far away from their families and friends is to make sure they can speak with loved ones,” said Onorato. “I want to thank County residents and Panera for their continued support of our phone card drive.”

This is the second year that Panera Bread joined the phone card drive, offering special deals for customers and cookie sales during Light Up Night in Downtown Pittsburgh. Additionally, the 26 Panera Bread Cafes in the Pittsburgh region offered a free “You Pick Two” voucher in exchange for a $5 donation on a specified day in December. All proceeds from the donations were used to purchase additional international phone cards.

This is the seventh year that Allegheny County has sponsored the phone card drive for troops. With Panera’s help last year, the 2009 drive netted more than 245,000 phone-card minutes. The total number of minutes collected over seven years now stands at more than 590,000.

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