Cell phone drive rings good news

Last week, Sprint PCS teamed up with the IU greek system to collect used cell phones and cell phone parts. Students on campus donated about 300 cell phones to raise money for charity.\n"It was a huge success," said senior Abby Massey, vice president of communication relations for the Panhellenic Association. Massey said the greek system collected around 300 cell phones and parts, and as of right now, there may be even more. Some chapters have not turned in a total count.\nDavid DeVries, senior public relations manager for Sprint PCS, also collected phones off campus last week. Altogether, including the numbers for the IU campus, the total number of cell phones collected is around 400.\n"We had mostly students and their families respond," DeVries said.\nAlthough the collection fell short of the original goal of 1,000 phones, DeVries was still pleased with the outcome.\n"There were people who made an enormous effort, and I am proud of everyone that was involved," DeVries said. \nThe cell phones will be recycled or resold by Sprint, who will donate 100 percent of the proceeds to Easter Seals and the National Organization on Disability.\nDeVries also commented that this is a project he would love to do again, although next time more high profile events would be sought out. \n"I would like to investigate holding these collections during events like the Little 500, Parents Weekend, Homecoming or an IU vs. Purdue game," he said.\nMassey also said this is something the greek system would like to do again.\n"We are really happy with the numbers, and as long as Sprint keeps doing it, we will," Massey said. "We are so lucky Sprint approached us with it because it's such an easy way to make a difference," she said.\nSenior Mandy Harlan, who interned with DeVries this summer and helped bring the project to IU, was a little disappointed that the goal of 1,000 was not met but was still excited about the outcome.\n"The response was awesome," Harlan said. "The greek system did such a good job putting this together."\nHarlan helped man the donation stations in some of the dorms and said that many students were curious about the program. At least half approached the station to see what was going on.\n"A lot of students were really excited and interested in what we were doing," Harlan said. "A lot of them had cell phones to donate too, they just left them at home."\nHarlan said it's not too late for those who still want to donate. Anyone with an idle phone can drop it off at the Bloomington Sprint Store, 814 E. Auto Mall Road.