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. 5^th   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.  

“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