STC Starr County Campus Library collecting cell phones for soldiers

In an effort to give something back to the women and men of the U.S. Armed Forces, South Texas College’ Starr County Campus Library is set up as a collection site for the national campaign “Cell Phones for Soldiers.” The library will serve as one of 3,000 national collection sites during the months of November and December.

Through the program, used cell phones are collected and sent to ReCellular, a company that pays the program for each donated phone. Each phone donation provided roughly an hour of talk time to a soldier abroad.

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., with 21 dollars of their own money. Since its founding, the registered non-profit organization has raised almost 2 million dollars in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

“We are very excited to serve as a drop location for this program, which is connecting families across the nation and the Valley to their loved ones overseas,” said Gary Don Ford, STC Starr County Campus librarian. “Many members of our STC family have loved ones in the military and this is a special way we can help our college community, as well as the community at large.”

The library will collect phones through Friday, Dec. 18, 2009. For more information about dropping off your cell phone at the location call 956-872-5820. For more information about the Cell Phones for Soldiers Program visit [ http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/ ]http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/.