November 20, 2008 12:00 am
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Staff and wire
The Mississippi Department of Transportation has joined the Cell Phones for Soldiers program — a national charity drive that collects old cell phones for recycling.
The money earned on each phone — about $5 — is then put toward a 60 minute calling card for a soldier serving overseas. A typical international call home can cost $15 a minute.
MDOT officials on Tuesday kicked off the cell phone recycling program to also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to keep valuable material out of landfills.
Cell phone batteries and the internal memory boards — which can contain copper and gold — are valuable and can be easily reused.
So far, MDOT has collected 200 phones.
More than 150,000 troops are serving overseas and are away from their families.
"We're proud to show our support for U.S. soldiers, and to contribute to a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers," said MDOT Executive Director Larry L. "Butch" Brown. "It is easy for Americans to make a small sacrifice of support by donating their unused cell phones, and provide families with a much-needed connection to their loved ones overseas."
Cell phones for Soldiers were 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.
MDOT is asking residents of Mississippi to support the collection drive by donating their phones at MDOT Administration Building, located at 401 North West Street, Jackson, Miss. Other MDOT locations you can donate your cell phones to are:
• MDOT District One Headquarters - 1909 N. Gloster Street, Tupelo
• MDOT District Two Headquarters - 150 Highway 51 North, Batesville
• MDOT District Three Headquarters - 1240 Highway 49, West Yazoo City
• MDOT District Five Headquarters - 7759 Highway 80 West, Newton
• MDOT District Six Headquarters - 6356 Highway 49 North, Hattiesburg
• MDOT District Seven Headquarters - Highway 51 North, McComb
MDOT will send the donated phones to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers which will provide for each phone an hour of talk time on calling cards for soldiers abroad.
PARTICIPATE
Three things to remember before you recycle your wireless phone:
• Terminate your service
• Clear the phone's memory of contracts and other stored information. Go to www.recyclewirelessphones.com to learn how to do this.
• Remove your phone's SIM card, if it has one.
• For more information visit www.recyclewirelessphones.com and for MDOT at www.goMDOT.com.
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