Give a Phone by Toni Cardarella, media coordinator, Office of Communication
The Telecommunications Office is collecting used cell phones as part of a national project, Cell Phones for Soldiers, to provide talk time for U.S. military personnel stationed abroad. The office, a division of the Office of Communication on the Parkville Campus, is seeking participation from the Park community, alumni and friends. “We’re always looking for ways to support our troops and their families, and donating to the cause that enables them to call home seems like a perfect opportunity,” said Regina Reed, Parkville Campus Center telecommunications administrator. “It also goes hand in hand with our recent Green Initiative, which includes recycling used cell phones.” All collected phones go to ReCellular, which pays the CPS campaign for each donated phone — enough to provide an hour of talk time. Since its start in 2004 by Robbie and Brittany Bergquist, a brother and sister from Norwell, Mass. (who were 12 and 13 at the time),
Help a Soldier Call Home
Kari Estes, Goodfellow AFB Campus Center director, left, and Toya Jenkins, administrative specialist, display Cell Phones for Soldiers donations.
Cell Phones for Soldiers has raised more than $2 million in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas. “Cell Phones for Soldiers started as a small way to show our family’s appreciation for the men and women who have sacrificed the day-to-day contact with their own families to serve in the U.S. armed forces,” the teenagers’ father, Bob Bergquist, says on the organization’s web site, www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com. “Over the past few years, we have been overwhelmed by the generosity of others. But we have also seen the need to support our troops’ continued growth and as more troops are sent overseas for longer assignments.” Park’s Goodfellow Air Force Base Campus Center in San Angelo, Texas, kicked off its CPS campaign in September 2008. Kari Estes, director, said the campus center collected more than 200 phones in three months. The Goodfellow campaign got a jumpstart when a local radio station promoted the program on its
morning show. “The radio show told listeners that participation would be appreciated, especially since it was the holiday season in a military community,” Estes said. The promotion played periodically over the next few months on that station and sister stations. Donation boxes were set up at the San Angelo Visitors Center and at a local middle school. The San Angelo Chamber of Commerce provided free advertising in its newsletter. Reed, who is leading Park’s Cell Phones for Soldiers campaign, estimates the Parkville Campus has collected approximately 50 phones so far. Find more about cellphones for soldiers at cellphonesforsoldiers.com.
Green Tip: One used cell phone recycled by each cell phone user in the United States would reclaim enough precious metals to create 631 solid gold replicas of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen’s funerary mask. For more information and additional tips to lead a “green life,” visit sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/. Spring 2009 << 11