TMCnet News
Cell Phones for Soldiers drive gets under wayDec 07, 2008 (Kerrville Daily Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Kerrville Funeral Home is kicking off a used cell phone drive to support the more than 150,000 U.S. troops currently serving overseas. Through the Cell Phones for Soldiers project, founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Berquist from Norwell, Mass., community members can drop off their old cell phones at the funeral home collection basket in the lobby. The donated phones are sent to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each phone -- enough to provide a calling card with an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad, according to a press release. Half of the phones are reconditioned and sold to wholesale companies overseas and the other half are recycled to reclaim materials. "We're proud to show our support for U.S. soldiers and to contribute to a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers," said Gene Allen, owner of Kerrville Funeral Homes. The 2008 goal of Cell Phones for Soldiers is to provide more than 12 million minutes of prepaid calling cards for U.S. soldiers. Since the Berquists started the project with $21 of their own money, they have raised more than $1 million and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers abroad. For more information, go to www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com or call Kerr-ville Funeral Home at 895-5111. To see more of the Kerrville Daily Times or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dailytimes.com/. Copyright (c) 2008, Kerrville Daily Times, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |