Charity trades old equipment for new phone cards

Between dropping them in the toilet, leaving them on the bus or accidentally stepping on them, college students can be hard on their cell phones. Now, they can donate old cells and chargers to Cell Phones for Soldiers, which trades them in for 60-minute phone cards that are given to families and friends of soldiers so they can call their loved ones stationed overseas.\nThe program works through ReCellular, a Michigan-based company that is the largest recycler and reseller of cell phones and their accessories in the world.\n“Our role is to process all the phones that are collected by the charity and turn them into money that can be used for the phone cards,” ReCellular Vice President Mike Newman said.\nNewman added that part of the success of Cell Phones for Soldiers is the simplicity for donors.\n“I think (the program is) a pretty straightforward thing, which is one of the things that’s so great about it,” Newman said. “The charity’s biggest competitor is peoples’ drawers and closets.”\nNewman said his company processed almost 400,000 cell phones for the non-profit last year, which adds up to almost 24 million phone minutes.\n“You can’t help but be inspired and want to do your part,” he said.\nIn Bloomington, phones and chargers can be dropped off at the MacExperience at 14th and Walnut, the Pak Mail by College Mall or the Pak Mail on Henderson Street.\nCorina Ortega, a Pak Mail business development representative, said beside the obvious charitable intention, the program is a great way to get rid of equipment students no longer need.\n“A lot of people come in and drop their cell phones off because they don’t want them anymore,” Ortega said. “They know it’s going to a good cause.”\nMacExperience manager Joshua Streiff said he first heard about the program through a business supplier who is also a Cell Phones for Soldiers sponsor.\n“I thought, ‘that is an amazingly good idea,’” Streiff said. “Whether or not you support the wars, you should support the troops.”\nStreiff went to the Web site, www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com, where he filled out the drop-off point request form. The organization also provides a standardized sample press release, flyers, donation receipts and instructions.\n“There are simple things we can do that don’t put us out at all to make their time overseas a little less difficult,” Streiff said. “This is one of the easiest ways to do it.”\nSiblings Robbie and Brittany Bergquist began Cell Phones for Soldiers in 2004 when they were 12 and 13 years old, respectively. The duo continues to run their non-profit with the help of sponsors like ReCellular and AT&T, which has donated more than $500,000 worth of prepaid phone cards to the organization. The teens have been featured on “The View,” “CBS Evening News,” CNN and in USA Today and have won several awards for outstanding young people.