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Operation Pioneer Spirit Joins Forces With
Cell Phones For Soldiers
DO YOU have a couple of old cell phones lying around, and you
don’t know what to do with them? Give them to a good cause — Operation Pioneer
Spirit - who will then turn them over to Cell Phones for Soldiers. Operation
Pioneer Spirit recently joined this effort to assist our soldiers who want to
call home. Operation Pioneer Spirit is asking area folks to drop off all their
used cell phones at Potter Chiropractic, 300 N. 5th Street or WBBZ Radio
Station, 1601 E. Oklahoma.
Operation Pioneer Spirit will then collect and mail these old cell phones,
working or not, to Cell Phones for Soldiers which will mail prepaid calling
cards to Operation Pioneer Spirit to include in boxes sent to area troops
stationed in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. It doesn’t matter what kind of cell
phone, or if it is working or not, any cell phone is accepted. Batteries,
chargers and accessories are not required but gladly accepted, too.
“Americans will replace an estimated 130 million cell phones this year,” says
Mary Anne Potter, founder of Operation Pioneer Spirit, after speaking with an
official at Cell Phones for Soldiers. “The majority of phones are either
discarded or stuffed into a kitchen drawer. Most people don’t realize that the
small sacrifice of donating their unwanted phones can have a tremendous benefit
for our soldiers who can then call home for free. For a 7-year-old who's missing
his daddy and a father thousands of miles away at war, a phone call is not just
a chance to catch up: It's the only way to cope. Just hearing the voice of your
loved one who is so far from home means so much to the families. Operation
Pioneer Spirit recently reached the incredible milestone of mailing 2000+ boxes
to our Oklahoma troops. Now, we can include prepaid phone cards in each box, as
well as, other necessities,” Potter added.
Teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass. founded cell Phones
for Soldiers, in April 2004, 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 400,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers
serving overseas.
“Cell Phones for Soldiers started as a small way to show our family’s
appreciation for the men and women who have sacrificed the day-to-day contact
with their own families to serve in the U.S. armed forces,” says the teens’
father, Bob Bergquist. “Over the past few years, we have been overwhelmed by the
generosity of others. But, we have also seen the need to support our troops
continue to grow as more troops are sent overseas for longer assignments.”
Before donating, you can delete all your personal information if you want. To
learn how to erase personal information, you can visit the following Internet
website:
http://www.recellular.com/recycling/data_eraser/default.asp.
If you would rather let Cell Phones For Soldiers do that, then just bring your
old cell phones to Potter Chiropractic, 300 N. 5th or WBBZ Radio Station, 1601
E. Oklahoma. “Who would have thought that all these old cell phones we have
lying around, can help our soldiers and their families stay in touch. Our goal
is to mail 1,000 cell phones before Ponca City’s 45th Infantry comes home in the
fall.” Potter concluded.
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