FOUR CALLING BIRDS
The charity I have chosen today, Cell Phones for Soldiers, was started by a 13-year old girl and her 12-year old brother. They were motivated to action when they heard a news story about a soldier who ran up an $8000 phone bill while calling home to speak with his family while deployed overseas. Shocked by the expense of such a seemingly simple, everyday thing like a phone call, they immediately rose to action. The teens were driven to help soldiers, men and women who were torn away from their wives, husbands, children, parents, friends, and communities to do their jobs: putting themselves into harms' way to protect all of us from harm. They just wanted to help these soldiers and their families cope with the stress of a deployment. Talk about humbling.
These kind and noble children felt so passionate about this cause that they selflessly gave what some might call a meager amount, but was likely their entire life savings: they literally emptied their piggy banks...for a total of $21. When they took their money to the bank, the manager was so impressed by their thoughtful act that he anted up $500 to help. Their project quickly snowballed into a huge effort to collect phones and prepaid calling cards for troops stationed overseas. It was a simple idea, with lovely intentions. Since it's inception in 2004, these two "kids" who started with $21 have raised almost $2 million in donations and have distributed 500,000+ calling cards to soldiers who are serving our country.
Who doesn’t have an old cell phone lying around the house? I personally have two that are in fantastic condition, and 3 or 4 more that are older than dirt, just sitting in a box in the basement taking up room. So why would I NOT give my old phones to this very worthy cause? It's just too easy. The Cell Phones for Soldiers website even has an easy-to-use eraser tool that will remove personal data from your phone before it gets shipped or donated (in case you don't want your personal phone book flying around out there). Besides that, it's a good "go green" effort too! The phones don't even have to work -- the phones collected for this program are sent to Re-Cellular, which in turn pays CPFS for each phone. That happens to be enough for about an hour of talk time for a soldier who are oceans away from their family and friends, fighting for our nation. Just a little thing that could mean a LOT. Especially during the holiday season when they may be feeling lonely and so far away from our world of stockings and decorating trees and gift shopping must seem so irrelevant compared to what they encounter on a daily basis.
Whether you're for or against the politics behind the wars our nation is currently fighting, these men and women are sacrificing so much for your right to voice that opinion. So let's give them a voice in return… so that they may find some comfort in hearing familiar voices, while working in unfamiliar lands far away from home and under conditions that most of us could not even imagine.
So two items of action for me today (and I hope you too will at least take the time to do #1)
1) Take my old cell phones to a local dropoff point (Any of the Wells Fargo Bank and Liberty Tax locations for you Fargoans) Collect your friends' & neighbors old phones too! (Let's just make sure they're not currently using them… that could cause some family brawls at Christmastime!)
2) Make a donation at http://cellphonesforsoldiers.com/donatemoney.html
For Nate, for Donnie, for Josh, for all the friends and family you & I have who are serving in the military: THANK YOU. Thank you and your families for your sacrifices so that we can continue to enjoy freedoms like having cell phones, and reading blogs, and celebrating Christmas...
CELL PHONES FOR SOLDIERS
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