Sometimes you get sent to an assignment that seems totally ordinary, and then you start talking to people because it’s your job, and then people start telling you really amazing, not-so-ordinary stories.
© 2012 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Maria Martinez of York hugs her husband Angel Santiago as they wait for Budget Mobile agent Rose West, lower right, tries to activate the cell phone for which Santiago applied on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012, in York. Santiago and Martinez are both on fixed incomes due to medical and health conditions, and their 2.5-year-old son Jeremiah has heart murmurs. Santiago said because he has no phone and no car, he has had to walk the eight blocks to York Hospital from his home, with Jeremiah in a stroller, just to make appointments for Jeremiah. Earlier in the day, Martinez tested positive for a second pregnancy, which means Santiago will need the new cell phone even more to make more appointments. Cell phone company Budget Mobile is working with the federal government to provide free cell phones with 250 free minutes per month for low-income persons. The booth is set up in the corridor between Stadium Grill and Labor Ready near C-Town Supermarket. About 1,500 refurbished phones have been given away in the several weeks that the program has been in place.
Check out Emily’s article for more information about the program, too.
Great work, Chris.