SANIBEL, FL- More than 150,000 troops are serving overseas and are away from their families. Sanibel, Florida based Veterans & Family Memorial Care is calling on all Americans to support these brave men and women by donating their old cell phones. Since May, VFMC's exclusive funeral home provider network has collected nearly 4000 old cell phones that have translated into over two hundred twenty two thousand (222,000) free calling time minutes for our heroes overseas. "Our strategic alliance with Cell Phones for Soldiers has been a tremendous success" said Mark Davis, CEO & founder of Veterans & Family Memorial Care. "Our nationwide network of over 700 family owned funeral homes in 45 states, are committed to giving every soldier serving overseas a much needed connection to their loved ones back home."

People in communities nationwide can donate their old cell phones to the cause at any one of the over 700 Exclusive VFMC Providers in 45 states and Guam. The goal of the collection drive is to collect 5,000 phones over the next three months. To find a drop-off location near you visit www.VeteransFuneralHomes.com and go to the Veterans Funeral Home Directory or call toll free (866) 770-6791.

Americans will replace an estimated 130 million cell phones this year," says Mike Newman, vice president of ReCellular, "with the majority of phones either discarded or stuffed in a drawer. Most people don't realize that the small sacrifice of donating their unwanted phones can have a tremendous benefit for a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers."

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization has raised millions of dollars in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

"We have been overwhelmed by the generous support of thousands of Americans who have helped our troops speak with their loved ones," says the teens' father, Bob Bergquist. "However the need for support keeps growing as more soldiers are sent to the Middle East or are asked to serve extended tours of duty."

Through increased fundraising efforts, the Bergquist family hopes to raise more than $9 million in the next five years to fund new programs, such as providing video phones to allow soldiers abroad to see their families on a regular basis.

The phones are sent to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone -- enough to provide an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad.

Approximately half of the phones ReCellular processes are reconditioned and resold to wholesale companies in over 40 countries around the world. Phones and components that cannot be refurbished are dismantled and recycled to the highest environmental standards.

When Brittany and Robbie Bergquist started a program to ease the phone bills of soldiers overseas, they never dreamed it would get this big.

The Massachusetts teenagers, then 13 and 12 respectively, wanted to help a soldier they had heard about on the news who faced a nearly $8,000 phone bill as a result of calling home from Iraq.

Now, five years later, Cell Phones for Soldiers distributes more than 7,200 pre-paid phone cards a week to troops abroad, and has donated more than $4 million worth of calling cards to date.

Now young adults, the siblings have decided to take their program one step further by working as interns at Dexter-based ReCellular.

“To come here and really dedicate full days and full weeks (to the program) has been very interesting and very exciting,” Brittany Bergquist said. “To see the inner workings, it’s very different than what I did back home.”

ReCellular, a long-time partner of Cell Phones for Soldiers, purchases discarded cell phones from charities to either recycle or...

Read More at www.annarbor.com

CLARKSBURG - AT&T predicts it will collect and recycle 14 million cell phones by 2011.
The service provider says it actively asks its customers to recycle old phones.

Representatives from AT&T say recycling 14 million cell phones would reduce the same amount of greenhouse gases as removing nearly 5 thousand cars from the road from a year.

Any operable cell phones they get go to the Cell Phones for Soldiers program.

“I think the program is amazing,” claims Matt Nichols of the Clarksburg branch. “I think the fact that you can throw any phone away and you don’t have to worry about them going into landfills, very environmentally conscious decision, and the Cell Phones for Soldiers Program, it supports a great cause by giving the military families the ability to talk while their soldiers are overseas.”

You can donate your old cell phones by dropping them off at the Emily Drive Location or visit the link below.

Recycle Your Cell Phones – AT&T

For full story and related video visit here: wboy.com

Registered 501(c)3 Organization Hopes to Collect 50,000 Cell Phones, Enough to Provide 3 Million Minutes Calling Time for Troops Serving Overseas

NORWELL, Mass., July 1, 2009 – There are 5,000 soldiers in Afghanistan who will be talking to their loved ones this 4th of July, thanks to Aurora Bank’s collection of recycled cell phones. The bank’s presentation of over 1,500 used cell phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers provided 5,000 calling cards for the 4-25 BCT Army Battalion. Colonel Michael Howard graciously accepted the phone cards from Cell Phones for Soldiers and Aurora Bank on behalf of the 4,868 soldiers that are serving under his command as part of “Operation Enduring Freedom”.  

The ambitious goal is only one percent of the estimated 7.2 million cell phones Americans will retire during the month of July and the celebration of our independence. The vast majority of these phones will be added to landfills, where they pose a toxic risk to the surrounding environment.

“Donating your old cell phone is a small, easy sacrifice to make to support our troops.” says Brittany Bergquist, Cell Phones for Soldiers co-founder. “But for the troops overseas, it provides a priceless connection to their loved ones at home.  Because of substantial donations from companies like Aurora Bank, we have never had to say no to a deployed soldier. We are honored to present these cards to an entire battalion because of the efforts of Aurora Bank to collect phones for Cell Phones for Soldiers.” 

“We are grateful that Cell Phones for Soldiers is able to repurpose old cell phones for the benefit of our country’s soldiers and their families.” Noted Ted Janulis, Chairman of Aurora Bank FSB. “It is so important for these men and women to be able to connect with their loved ones back home and we are proud to be a part of this effort.”

In recognition of July 4th events all over the country, Cell Phones for Soldiers hopes to collect more than 50,000 phones to keep troops serving overseas connected with their loved ones at home.

Cell Phones for Soldiers safely recycles retired cell phones, and uses the proceeds to provide prepaid calling cards for the brave men and women serving in the Armed Forces abroad. The average recycled cell phone is worth enough to provide a 60 minute calling card for international use.

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered 501c3 non-profit organization has raised almost $1 million in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

“We are continuously overwhelmed by the enthusiastic support of thousands of Americans who have helped our troops speak with their loved ones,” says the teens’ father, Bob Bergquist. “However, the need for support continues as we have soldiers being deployed all over the world and many in the Middle East are being asked to serve extended tours of duty.”

Through increased fundraising efforts, the Bergquist family hopes to raise more than $9 million in the next five years to fund new programs, such as providing video phones and prepaid service to allow soldiers abroad to see their families on a regular basis.  They are also researching programs to provide technology for returning Veterans to aid their transition back into the work force. 

The donated phones are sent to ReCellular, which reimburses Cell Phones for Soldiers for recycled phones. Approximately half of the phones ReCellular processes are reconditioned and resold to wholesale companies in over 40 countries around the world. Phones and components that cannot be refurbished are dismantled and recycled to reclaim materials, including:

• Gold, silver and platinum from circuit boards
• Copper wiring from phone chargers
• Nickel, iron, cadmium and lead from battery packs
• Plastic from phone cases and accessories

America’s youth contribute more than 1.3 billion hours of community service each year, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service. Today, Kohl’s Department Stores recognized 10 of these stand-up kids by naming them national winners of the Kohl’s Kids Who Care® Scholarship Program.

Ranging in age from 10 to 18, each winner was awarded a $5,000 scholarship in addition to his or her regional winnings. Kohl’s will also donate $1,000 to a nonprofit organization of each winner’s choosing.

This year’s Kids Who Care scholarship recipients were selected for advocating youth literacy, founding a charity for disabled youth, raising money for underprivileged children and more.

Scholarship recipients are:

- Sarosha Hansraj, 10, Grapevine, Tex. – Sarosha founded an organization that has helped serve more than 255 underprivileged children in Afghanistan by providing them school supplies.

- Mary-Pat Hector, 10, Jonesboro, Ga. – Mary-Pat wrote and directed a play, “Easy Street Ain’t So Easy,” to raise awareness about abuse and donated $2,500 to a homeless shelter.

- Maxwell Lawson, 11, Munster, Ind. – Maxwell turned his birthday parties into fundraising events to collect supplies for Guatemalan children and to purchase prosthetic legs for children.

- Stephen Toledo, 12, Randolph, N.J. – Stephen raised money and collected recreational supplies to donate to local children’s hospitals.

- Patrick Pedraja, 13, Palm Harbor, Fla. – Patrick has added 6,500 people to the National Marrow Donor Program Registry through the program he founded, Driving for Donors.

- Sara-Elizabeth Clark, 13, Gardiner, N.Y. – Sara-Elizabeth raised more than $25,000 for epilepsy and a book is being authored about her experiences living with epilepsy.

- David Steinmetz, 16, Woodbridge, Conn. – David obtained a grant to provide 275 of his self-written books to children at Camp Good Grief, a bereavement program for kids who have lost loved ones.

- Brittany Bergquist, 17, Norwell, Mass. – Brittany helped raise more than $1 million and has sent more than 450,000 phone cards overseas since she began the Cell Phones for Soldiers program.

- Lorna Her Many Horses, 18, Rosebud, S.D. – Lorna distributed more than 2,500 books to children on her reservation to help improve literacy.

- Michael Pesci, 18, Parsippany, N.J. – Michael raised more than $150,000 to provide sports equipment to those in need through the program he founded, the Perfect Pitch Home Run Derby Charity Event.

“To see kids as young as 10 founding programs, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and caring for those in need is inspiring because they are learning at an early age the intrinsic value of volunteerism,” said Julie Gardner, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Kohl’s. “Kohl’s is thrilled to reward these kids through the Kohl’s Kids Who Care Scholarship Program and hopes it will encourage more young people to volunteer.”

Since launching the Kohl’s Kids Who Care Scholarship Program in 2001, more than 7,000 scholarships and prizes totaling over $1.5 million have been awarded to youth volunteers nationwide. This year, Kohl’s awarded more than $300,000 in scholarships and prizes to reward these outstanding kids based on their initiative, leadership, creativity and generosity.

For more information or a list of Kids Who Care winners, visit: www.kohlskidswhocare.com

DALLAS, July 1, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ --At more than 3.6 million recycled cell phones and counting since July 2007, Cell Phones for Soldiers (CPFS) and AT&T* are sharing fireworks with patriots, environmentalists, and young people across the country this Independence Day. Sparking more enthusiasm for the cause, the two are launching a new “double duty” advocacy campaign that empowers young people of all ages to make a difference this summer for military families and the environment by recycling wireless phones through social media and recycling drives.

CPFS uses the proceeds from recycling used wireless phones to buy free phone cards for military members away from home. Since July 2007, AT&T has been offering wireless users two simple ways to donate phones for the cause: Wireless customers of any carrier can drop off used cell phones and accessories at any of the 2,000-plus AT&T stores across the U.S. Or, they can download free shipping labels from www.att.com/recyclewireless.

In its second year of work with AT&T (July 2008-July 2009), CPFS has recycled more than 2.1 million phones, an increase of more than 43 percent versus the same time last year. And, the charity used its 2008-2009 recycling proceeds to send more than 350,000 prepaid phone cards to the troops to help them stay in touch with friends and family for free. AT&T and CPFS are celebrating the two-year anniversary in a few ways:

• AT&T will continue to collect phones for recycling in all 2,000-plus retail locations through 2010. Partial proceeds from these collections will continue to support CPFS - and its mission to connect military families with free phone cards.
• Through August 2009, AT&T and CPFS are working with the American Camp Association (ACA) to reach over 2 million children, tweens, and teens across the country with the patriotic and environmental cause. ACA outdoor camps are competing to collect the most phones and create the most environmentally friendly and most creative recycling bins.
• AT&T volunteers are handing out roughly 20,000 free CPFS recycling mailer bags to visitors attending the AT&T National in Bethesda, Md., this week, giving golf fans an easy way to recycle old wireless devices after they depart from the event.
• Recycling efforts with CPFS will also extend through AT&T-sponsored music festivals this summer and Campus MovieFest this fall, which is estimated to reach more than a million college students across the country...

Read More at foxbusiness.com

NORWELL, Mass., July 1 /PRNewswire/ - More than 150,000 troops are serving overseas and are away from their families. Cell Phones for Soldiers and Home Properties, a real estate investment trust (REIT) with communities in selected Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Southeast Florida markets, are calling on all Americans to support these brave men and women by donating used cell phones.

“We’re asking Americans to make a small sacrifice of support by donating their used cell phones, providing families with a much-needed connection to their loved ones overseas,” says Brittany Bergquist, Cell Phones for Soldiers co-founder.

Home Properties residents can donate their old cell phones to the cause at any one of almost 120 Home Properties locations in Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The goal of the collection drive is to collect 5,000 phones in three months. Non-residents are also invited to participate. To find a drop-off location near you, visit http://www.homeproperties.com and utilize the map to search in your area.

“We’re proud to show our support for U.S. soldiers, and to work with our residents and employees to contribute to a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers,” says Rosemarie Cook-Manley, Marketing Director at Home Properties.

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization has raised millions of dollars in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

“We have been overwhelmed by the generous support of thousands of Americans who have helped our troops speak with their loved ones,” says the teens’ father, Bob Bergquist. “However the need for support keeps growing as more soldiers are sent to the Middle East or are asked to serve extended tours of duty.”

Through increased fundraising efforts, the Bergquist family hopes to raise more than $9 million in the next five years to fund new programs, such as providing video phones to allow soldiers abroad to see their families on a regular basis.

The phones are sent to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone - enough to provide an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad.

Approximately half of the phones ReCellular processes are reconditioned and resold to wholesale companies in over 40 countries around the world. Phones and components that cannot be refurbished are dismantled and recycled to the highest environmental standards.

Visit www.homeproperties.com

BROOKFIELD, Wis. - You can show your support for U.S. troops by donating your old cell phones this weekend.

The University of Phoenix is taking part in the Cell Phones for Soldiers program. It helps troops stay connected with their families.

The program hopes to collect more than 50,000 cell phones this year.

You can donate your phone at the university’s campus in Brookfield through Sunday. They are located at 20075 Water Tower Blvd.

Phoenix, Arizona.- Apollo Group, the parent company of University of Phoenix and other academic institutions, has named AT&T* its primary wireless services provider. The three-year agreement will enable Apollo Group to offer corporate, employee and student discounts on a wide range of AT&T products and services – from smartphones to AT&T’s LaptopConnect card – to its 60,000-member workforce, faculty, alumni and the 400,000 students who study at its physical and online campuses and learning centers across the country.

Apollo Group will also join AT&T and the charity Cell Phones for Soldiers TM (CPFS) in recycling thousands more cell phones this year - becoming the first AT&T business customer to recycle with AT&T and the charity. Since Earth Day 2008, CPFS has recycled more than 2.5 million wireless devices. CPFS uses the proceeds from recycling to buy and distribute free phone cards for U.S. troops overseas.

“Our broad reach enables us to make a lasting impact on hundreds of thousands of students each day, and it also allows us to give back to the community in a variety of meaningful ways,” said Joe D’Amico, president and chief operating officer of Apollo Group. “Now, thanks to our national purchasing power, we are able to leverage AT&T’s vast portfolio of products and services for the benefit of our Apollo Group family, while benefiting our men and women in uniform and protecting the environment.”

Wireless users can drop off used cell phones and accessories at any of the 2,000-plus AT&T stores across the U.S. and at University of Phoenix ground campuses. Or, they can download free shipping labels from www.att.com/recyclewireless and mail them to the recycling plant on behalf of the cause.

According to the EPA, more than 100 million cell phones are discarded annually; and, in 2007, only 10 percent were recycled. Recycling or reusing cell phones - which are made up of precious metals, copper and plastics - helps to prevent air and water pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that occur during manufacturing. If every consumer recycled his or her cell phone, the country could save enough energy to power more than 18,500 U.S. homes for one year.

Apollo Group already has made a strong commitment to sustainability, in part by fueling the equivalent of 27 percent of its annual electricity use nationwide with renewable energy sources. Among Apollo Group’s other green initiatives have been the execution of an internal employee sustainability education program; design and implementation of environmentally sound practices at its corporate offices in Phoenix; local and national recycling initiatives; the development of environmental programs; and involvement in far-reaching community projects that support use of solar power and other alternative energy sources.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

Each of the four major carriers in the United States has its own reuse/recycle effort, and they don’t care where a donated phone comes from, or whether it’s one of their own. Drop-off bins are located in many carriers’ stores.

AT&T, for example, provides free shipping labels for the Cell Phones for Soldiers program, which recycles phones and uses the proceeds to buy phone cards for troops stationed overseas.

The company and Cell Phones for Soldiers recycled more than 2.5 million wireless devices since Earth Day 2008, exceeding their Earth Day 2009 goal by more than 700,000 phones, according to AT&T, which said proceeds generated from recycling since Earth Day 2008 have went to the purchase of more than 250,000 prepaid phone cards for troops.

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