Cell phone donations yield calling cards for deployed military Published March 21, 2008 By Airman 1st Class Daryl Knee 90th Space Wing Public Affairs F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- A new program here accepts used or outdated cell phones to recycle them for calling cards for deployed service members. The Rising 6 private organization sponsors the "Cell Phones for Soldiers" program. "It's just too darn easy," said Tech. Sgt. Brent Chadick, 90th Security Support Squadron and Rising 6 project officer. "You donate a used phone, and a deployed member gets a free 60-minute calling card." Two teenagers from Massachusetts founded the program in 2004. They coordinated with ReCellular, a company that recycles phones, to take the money earned from the phones and spend it for the military. Since the program's inception, more than 400,000 prepaid calling cards have been sent to military members serving abroad. "Americans will replace an estimated 130 million cell phones this year," said Mike Newman, ReCellular vice president. "Most people don't realize that the small sacrifice of donating their unwanted phones can have a tremendous benefit for a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers." Donation points are at the Warren BX and commissary, Sergeant Chadick said. The person donating the phone just has to drop it in the box. The company accepts any cell phone and their accessories. "You're not going to get the calling card yourself," said Tech. Sgt. David Bedner, Rising 6 NCO president. "However, you do get that warm and fuzzy feeling inside when you donate." "Anybody, just drop off your used phones," said Earl "Scotty" MacKenzie, retired Army sergeant and the western coordinator for Cell Phones for Soldiers. "We have to take care of the kids over there. "We didn't have this privilege during World War II," he added. For more information call Sergeant Chadick at 773-4157.