Comcast's Eastern Division and ReCullular Team to Provide Cell Phones for Soldiers Serving Abroad

The Eastern Division of Comcast Cable and Cell Phones for Soldiers announced a partnership to connect service members overseas with their families back home through calling without incurring ‘collect’ fees.

 

The employees of the Eastern Division of Comcast have given away approximately 300 old cell phones, and the company committed to donating up to 1,200 within the first year of the partnership. Theses phones will be sent to ReCellular, which in turn of each donated phone, will pay Cell Phones for Soldiers, an amount enough for the soldiers abroad to have almost one hour of talk time in their pre-paid calling cards.

 

The old cell phones are being converted into more than 18 million minutes of prepaid calling cards for U.S. troops stationed overseas under the Cell Phones for Soldiers program. For doing that 25,000 cell phones are expected to be collected each month by Cell Phone for Soldiers, through a network of more than 10,000 collection sites across the country.

 

Michael Doyle, president of Comcast Cable's Eastern Division and founder of CN8, The Comcast Network, said that the company is pleased to help provide opportunities for service members overseas to stay connected with their friends and families during special occasions like Father's Day and throughout the year, and is happy to add this task of donating the cell phones to its roster of public service programs and initiatives to support troop members and their families.

 

Initially, two teenagers, Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Massachusetts, founded the Cell Phones for Soldiers program with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered non-profit organization has raised almost $2 million in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

 

The father of the teen duo, Bob Bergquist, commented that Cell Phones for Soldiers started as a small way to show their 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. He noted that the family has been overwhelmed by the generosity of others during the past few years, but as more troops continue to serve overseas and for longer assignments, there is a continuing and growing need for them to expand the efforts.

 

The Bergquist family expects that through increased fundraising efforts, it will be able to raise more than $9 million in the next five years, and will utilize the money to fund new programs, like offering video phones and prepaid service to allow soldiers abroad to see and speak with their families on a regular basis.

 

Mike Newman, Vice President of ReCellular, commented that approximately 130 million cell phones will be replaced in the US this year, and the majority of these phones either discarded or stuffed in a drawer as 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.

 

Brittany & Robbie Bergquist read a story about a soldier who ran up a huge phone bill calling home from Iraq, and inspired by the story, both the teenagers decided to help out. Opening an account with their own $21.00, they began the organization. More info about Cellphone For Soldiers can be found at http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com.