Local drive for Cell Phones For Soldiers launched by THS senior

By Carrie A. Mizell

Alyssa McElroy is a teenager on a mission!
The Trenton High School senior is collecting old cell phones for Cell Phones For Soldiers, a program dedicated to supporting all branches of the United States military by helping troops call home.
Alyssa was researching community service projects online recently when she came across Cell Phones For Soldiers.
“I thought it was a good idea, especially around here,” Alyssa said. “We have a lot of soldiers serving overseas right now.”
Alyssa set up a camouflage collection box decorated with a large yellow ribbon, in the front office of Trenton High School earlier this month, and has already collected 25 old, or old and damaged cell phones. She plans to also put collection boxes in Ameris Bank, Capital City Bank and Drummond Bank later this week.
According to the Cell Phones For Soldiers website, more than 7.5 million cell phones have been collected since the program began, which has provided military personnel with more than 90 million minutes of pre-paid calling cards. Currently, there are more than 6,000 Cell Phones For Soldiers collection sites across the country.
Once the phones are collected, they 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.
“Americans will replace an estimated 130 million cell phones this year,” said 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 of Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money. Over the next five years, the family hopes to raise more than $9 million to fund new programs, such as providing video phones with prepaid service to allow soldiers abroad to see their families on a regular basis.
For more information, visit www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com