FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 12/21/2007

Beau Rivage Connects Military Families with "Cell Phones For Soldiers"

Company Donates Hundreds of Phones to Help Charity Reach Goal of Free Call Homes for All Troops in Iraq

BILOXI, Miss. –Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, MGM MIRAGE’s property on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, is making a difference in the lives of military families this holiday season and is encouraging others to do the same. Beau Rivage and its employees are helping U.S. troops stationed in Iraq get prepaid phone cards by donating hundreds of old and used wireless phones to the Cell Phones For Soldiers (CPFS) campaign. Today Beau Rivage employees dropped off the phones at the AT&T Crossroads store in Gulfport and presented Major General Harold A. Cross, Adjutant General Mississippi National Guard, with 110 phone cards to send to his unit in Iraq.

Cell Phones For Soldiers was founded in 2004 by 13-year-old Brittany Bergquist and her 12-year-old brother Robbie of Norwell, Mass. with the goal of helping U.S. soldiers serving overseas call home. The program turns old cell phones into prepaid calling cards. The phones are sent to recyclers who pay CPFS for each donated phone.

Beau Rivage, Biloxi’s largest private sector employer is leading the charge and answering a nationwide call to action for holiday mobile phone donations by giving more than one hundred phones to CPFS program. Not only does the program encourage recycling, but the phones will help fund the purchase of the prepaid phone cards which support our troops. The goal is to enable every military stationed in Iraq to make a free, 20-minute phone call home.

“Cell phones are popular gifts and many people replace or upgrade their phones during the holidays,” said George P. Corchis, president and chief operating officer of MGM MIRAGE’s Mississippi resorts, which includes the Beau Rivage in Biloxi and the Gold Strike Casino Resort in Tunica. “What better time or way to help support our troops than giving them an opportunity to connect with their loved ones, simply by recycling old mobile phones that will most likely be discarded or placed in a drawer.”

Donations can be dropped off at any of AT&T’s 1,800 retail stores across the U.S. including South Mississippi locations in Ocean Springs, D’ Iberville and Gulfport. For more information, visit www.cellphonesforsoliders.com.

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For More Information:
Mary Cracchiolo-Spain, Beau Rivage
mcracchiolo@beaurivage.com
(228) 386-7134

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