In July and August, Cricket Wireless, together with our Authorized Retailers (ARs), showed that we’re not only in the community, but we’re also an integral part of it. From donating school supplies to delivering an unexpected birthday surprise, we are committed to showing up and giving back to support local communities across the country.
To help get this school year off to a great start, Cricket employees throughout the great state of Texas participated in local school supply drives. In the city of Hutto, for example, Cricket and AR Boom Wireless passed out crayons and erasers at a local event that donated 1,500 backpacks to students in pre-k through high school. Cricket also provided music and light snacks to families in attendance. 
Similar supply drive efforts took place in the Texas cities of Refugio with AR Boom Wireless, Rockport with AR Greenlight Mobile and in Harlingen with ARs STX Wireless, Mobile Link and Optimal Wireless.
Cricket AR Gateway Wireless in Manchester (NH) helped a customer who lost everything he owned because of an apartment fire. The customer went to the Cricket store to replace his phone. Upon hearing his devastating news, the employees gathered the customer’s information and submitted it to the Gateway Cares Program to see if they could get him a few months of free service on his $30 plan. After hearing about the situation and that the customer likes to stream music and podcasts on his device, the Gateway Leadership team provided him with 6 months of service on the $60 Cricket More plan along with a $500 gift card to Wal-Mart so that he could purchase some essentials.
To help put smiles on children’s faces, Cricket Wireless teamed with local Boys & Girls Clubs in several markets to surprise children with shopping sprees at Academy Sports + Outdoors stores. The children were each given $100 gift cards courtesy of Cricket and could pick out things they needed and wanted. In total, 120 gift cards were given to kids in seven markets: Magnolia, Pine Bluff and Rogers (AR); Springfield and St Louis (MO); and Oklahoma City and Tulsa (OK).
And in a random act of kindness, some employees at Cricket AR Mas Wireless in Douglas (AZ) saw a customer’s post on a community page expressing concern that no one was going to show up for son’s 7th birthday party. Seeing an opportunity to spread smiles, the Cricket team showed up with balloons and a backpack with goodies.
These are just a few ways Cricket and our dedicated team of Authorized Retailers are showing up in the community to give our customers something to smile about.