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Old cell phones help soldiers call home
Old cell phones help soldiers call home
ONEIDA -- Autumn McNichol can't see her brother, Tom McNichol, or her cousin, Tim McNichol, in person because Tom's in the Army fighting in Baiji and Tim's in the Marines fighting in Baghdad.
She can't call him because the military can't give out phone numbers. Sending packages takes too long. With so many obstacles in the way, communication was close to impossible. But McNichol found another way to talk with him, Cell Phones for Soldiers.
While searching the Web one day, McNichol found a site with information about the program. A little boy and girl in Massachusetts, Robbie and Brittany Bergquist, had developed an idea of collecting old cell phones, recycling them and making money to pay for international phone cards for the soldiers. It sounded like the perfect idea to McNichol.
But there were no collection sites in Central New York; she only found them around New York City. McNichol wanted to do something about it.
"I just found it, printed out the stuff, asked my boss about it," McNichol said. "I didn't plan on taking it as far as I'm taking it." But with her boss, Ben Eberhardt's OK from Colgate Inn, McNichol decided to try it.
"I collect old cell phones," McNichol said. She put baskets at three businesses in the area with signs and a flyer about Cell Phones for Soldiers. "Who doesn't have an old cell phone lying around in a drawer or something?," she said.
Whenever people get a new contract, they usually get a free phone, too, McNichol said. Instead of throwing out those phones, they can help soldiers stay in contact with their families. The phones do not have to work, they just have to be intact with one battery. Chargers, boxes and other accessories are not accepted.
When McNichol has collected 50 cell phones, she will send them to a recycling plant. Recycling the phones earns money that Cell Phones for Soldiers uses to purchase calling cards to send to soldiers abroad. Depending on the type of phone, the organization will even send money for shipping and handling.
"This program helps them and it helps the people back home," McNichol said. "It's getting rough over there. The one thing that keeps them sane and the family sane is being able to call. Calling cards are "outrageously expensive" for the soldiers. They only get four minutes of use out of a 60 minute phone card after all the steps have gone through.
Package delivery is limited, too, McNichol said. It takes forever for soldiers to receive the stuff; they're constantly on the move. By the time the package makes it to one location, the soldiers have moved again.
"I wanted to do something, and something that's respectful," McNichol said. Knowing her brother is in Iraq at such a dangerous time is unbearable, she said. "It's the worst feeling ever. You're absolutely helpless. There's nothing you can do."
After only about a week of collecting, McNichol already has 14 phones. She plans to continue the project as long as she can. The national organization has raised over $250,000 and bought 9,000 phone cards to send to soldiers.
There are collection baskets at Madison Square Barbershop on Madison Street in Oneida, the Oneida Daily Dispatch on Broad Street in Oneida, Colgate Inn in Hamilton and Parkside on route 26 in Vernon Center. Cash donations are also accepted.
For more information, go to:
cellphonesforsoldiers(dot)com
ŠThe Oneida Daily Dispatch 2005
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