Students' cell phones will help raise money, awareness

In America, there are nearly 54 million inactive wireless phones lying around. In America, there are also over 54 million citizens with a physical, sensory, or mental disability.\nCoincidence? Maybe.\nThese facts sparked the birth of a cellular philanthropy project on the IU campus.\nDuring Greek Week this week, booths will be set up in various areas of campus as well as the Bloomington community to collect used, inactive cell phones that students, family members and community members may want to get rid of. Volunteers from the greek system will man the booths. The 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. Both of these organizations are committed to helping and supporting people and families affected by disabilities.\n"We are having a great response so far," said Mandy Harlan, the coordinator of the project and a member of Zeta Tau Alpha. \nOver the summer, Harlan worked in Chicago as an intern for Dave DeVries, the senior public relations manager for Sprint PCS. Sprint began collecting cell phones in April when the company kicked off its nation-wide project. The company was trying to find ways to expand, and DeVries mentioned how great it would be to bring it to a college campus. Harlan immediately agreed and eventually took it upon herself to pull the whole thing together and bring a part of her summer internship back to IU.\n"I was just really excited to have my own project to bring back to IU from my internship and share it with others," Harlan said. \nDeVries said he was happy to have Harlan take control of the campaign.\n"She took the bull by the horns and deserves credit for this project's success," DeVries said.\nThe goal of the campaign is to collect a total of 1,000 cell phones. DeVries said this is an attainable goal.\n"There are over 30,000 students, faculty and staff here, and that's not including the Bloomington community," DeVries said. "It should be quite easy considering the number of idle phones lying around in homes, and the quantity of location spots that are set up."\nDuring Greek Week, each chapter has several opportunities to earn points and beat out all the other chapters. This project is yet one more way chapters can earn points toward their name. Each cell phone donated equals one point for whichever chapter collects it.\nHarlan and DeVries approached Abby Massey, the vice president of Communications Relations for the Panhellenic Association, and Casey Holsapple, the vice president of Campus Relations for the Interfraternity Council, to propose the project.\n"We talked it over, and everyone thought it was such a great idea," Massey said. "We were even able to institute it as part of the competition this week, and it turned out to be a great incentive."\nThe campaign spokesperson for this project is Marlee Matlin, who is deaf and has devoted her life to helping others with disabilities. She has starred on several television shows and can now be found as the character Joey Lucas on The West Wing. Matlin helped Sprint kick off the project in April but has since had a baby and has not been able to be as involved, but her face appears on a brochure every donor will receive. This brochure also includes a tax-deductible receipt.