Published November 29, 2011, in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_19433865
ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA—It's a long way from Euclid Avenue to American military bases around the world, but members of the Ontario Parkway Kiwanis Club have a way to sharply reduce that distance.
Club members have joined with the nonprofit Cell Phones for Soldiers Inc. to collect used cellular phones that can be converted into free telephone time for military members serving around the world.
On Saturday morning, there will be a Kiwanis booth collecting cell phones at the corner of D Street and Euclid Avenue as part of the Christmas on Euclid celebration, said Ken Morse, community service chairman for the club.
Each cell phone, working or not, will be shipped to AT&T which in turn will provide the Cell Phone for Soldiers group gift cards that military members can use to phone loved ones at home.
"And we've gotten FedEx to ship as many as 30 or 40 pounds of the cell phones to AT&T for free," said Morse.
Morse learned about the cell phone program while attending a Kiwanis convention in San Diego earlier this year.
Since then, he and the Ontario club, joining the 10 Kiwanis clubs in the group's Division 15, began serving as collectors for the used phones.
Morse said the program originated in 2004 when two young teens heard about a soldier, worried about a sick child, who ran up a huge phone bill calling home. The two -- Robbie and Brittany Bergquest of Norwell, Mass. -- raised money with friends by holding yard sales and other means to pay off his $1,500 phone bill.
From that start, Cell Phones for Soldiers Inc. has collected 8.3 million cell phones and provided troops more than 114 million minutes of free phone time.
He said the club will have its usual booth Saturday in which they give out free children's books to kids up to age 13 as part of its program to promoting reading to young people.
Information about the club is available from President Doug Cogan.
Posted
Jan 10 2012, 04:06 PM
by
Scott Smith