Cell Phones for Soldiers

By Alika Salazar

Two years ago, we decided to invite an organization into each of our three stores called Cell Phones for Soldiers. People can come to us and donate their old cell phones. Cell Phones for Soldiers, a non-profit organization, sells those phones for money and buys airtime cards for the soldiers to call home. We met the person (Robbie Bergquist) who started it all last week during a convention in Las Vegas. He was just 12 years old and his sister Brittany 13 when they began eleven years ago. They wanted to pay a soldier’s bill that was $800, so they started saving all their money and their organization grew bigger as more and more people heard about what they were doing. People all over started helping them, giving them cell phones. Today, it’s nationwide and they’ve helped a lot of people.

Since its inception in 2004, Cell Phones for Soldiers has worked to provide free communication services to active-duty military members and veterans, providing servicemen and women with an estimated 3 million prepaid calling cards, equating to more than 213 million minutes of FREE talk time!

Cell Phones for Soldiers fuel’s its mission through generous monetary contributions and the recycling of donated mobile phones. Newer or gently-used mobile phones from all service providers are accepted. Each $5 contribution or donated device valued at $5 will provide troops with 2.5 hours of FREE talk time. The organization has prevented more than 11.6 million cell phones from ending up in landfills.

We are an official drop off point for Cell Phones for Service, so if you have an old cell phone just lying around the house collecting dust or making crank calls (just kidding), we encourage you to bring it in to any one of our three stores. When you do, be sure to remove all your personal information from your old phone before you bring it in to protect your identity. Your contribution could save you money as it is tax deductible. Our soldiers and our landfills will greatly appreciate your generosity and compassion.