DMA E-News - Armed Forces News Highlights 10 OCT 03
DMA E-news
10/09/2003"Freedom Girls" Plug Savings Bonds

Sixty-four-year-old Randi Johnson Dale, her daughter Susan, 37, and her 6-year-old granddaughter, Anastasia Richardson, are on a quest to save U.S. Savings Bonds. Dubbed as "Freedom Girls," they have been appearing at Oklahoma county fairs and even on city street corners encouraging people to buy bonds. Randi Dale, who was a child model for War Bonds in World War II, latched onto the idea of promoting the bonds, now called "Patriot Bonds," right after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, as a way for all Americans to support the war against terrorism. Although Americans are buying the bonds in droves, Treasury officials and some lawmakers want the program overhauled because of relatively small return versus costs. Accordingly, the marketing budget has been slashed, the minimum holding period has been hiked, and plans are afoot to convert to electronic bonds in 2005. Visit the Freedom Girls website at http://www.usfreedombonds.com