PORT ANGELES — A pair of newlyweds say they are astounded to receive national media attention from their efforts to collect prepaid international phone calling cards for troops in Iraq.
Tony Clayton and Jeana Johnson-Clayton, who were married Oct. 16 at John Wayne Marina in Sequim, asked guests and others to donate phone cards rather than traditional wedding gifts.
A photo and story in Sunday’s Peninsula Daily News featuring the couple surrounded by dozens of gift phone cards has sparked a media outpouring at the local and national level.
The PDN story was dispatched by The Associated Press to other member newspapers and broadcast outlets.
“I can’t believe it — ‘Good Morning America’ called and wants to interview us,” Johnson-Clayton said Tuesday while driving back from an interview for the Fox News Channel in Seattle.
“We knew we were doing a good thing by collecting the phone cards, but never in our wildest dreams did we think we would get this kind of response.”
Wanting to send cards
The couple have been featured on local and regional TV and radio programs and in newspapers across the country which picked up the AP story.
“Some of the people who interviewed us have called back to ask for our address because people who saw or heard the programs are wanting to send us phone cards,” she said.
During their wedding, the couple received about 60 phone cards totaling more than 350 hours of international calling.
Johnson-Clayton, who is a PDN employee, said the couple will send all phone cards collected to service members in Iraq so they can call home during the holidays.
Johnson-Clayton’s son, Chris Johnson, is serving in the Marine Corps and is due for deployment in January.
Johnson-Clayton said the couple could not be more pleased with the outpouring of support.
“We thought maybe we could collect more phone cards locally after Sunday’s (PDN) article, but we did not expect this,” she said.
“We will be pros by the time we are interviewed by “Good Morning America.”