How to Donate and Recycle Used Cell Phones To Support Soldiers In Afghanistan and Iraq

Donate Your Used Cell Phone To Help Soldiers!

Soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq receive great comfort from any contact they have with friends and family back home. Many soldiers frequently send emails, instant messages and letters to keep in contact, but getting to actually call and talk on the phone with someone is what they really look forward to. You can help make this happen more often and for more soldiers by donating your used cell phone. Here is How To Donate and Recycle Used Cell Phones To Support Soldiers In Afghanistan and Iraq!

Things You'll Need

• A Used Cell Phone - That's it!

Instructions

1. 

   Did you know that, due to security reasons, you cannot directly send a used cell phone to a soldier? But what you can do is take advantage of a service provided by the website, www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com. This service was started by two USA teenagers with $21.00 of their own money, and since it's inception, has already raised almost $2 million dollars in donations! If you have a used cell phone, this is a great place to donate it and do a lot of good in the process.

2. 

   Here's how this service works: Cell Phones For Soldiers collects the used cell phones you send in and they in turn sell them to a company called ReCellular. ReCellular pays enough for each cell phone so that Cell Phones For Soldiers can provide an hour of talk time for soldiers abroad in the form of a prepaid calling card. Soldiers can't directly use your donated old phone, but they can benefit indirectly by being able to use these calling cards to call home for free! This is a tremendous blessing you are providing for them and it comes from something that most people just throw away!

3. 

   Cell Phones For Soldiers makes the whole process easy,...,and FREE! The website offers Pre-Paid, Printable Shipping Labels for you to use. All you have to do is find a box or padded envelope to put your old cell phone in, tape or glue the mailing label to the outside of it, and drop it in a mailbox!

   Depending on how many phones you return, shipping will be by the United States Postal Service or by FedEx.

Tips & Warnings

• The Cell Phones For Soldiers website offers a Donation Receipt that you can print off and file with your income tax return.

• The website also offers a link to Free Cell Phone Data Eraser Information. If you are worried about donating a phone that has all your contacts and other personal information still in it, this link will show you how to erase your phone.

• You can make a direct donation to their efforts with your credit card on the website.

• They offer banner links that you can paste into your web page to direct others to their site.

• For a donation of $1000.00, you can be listed as a sponsor on their website. You can then also officially hold fundraising events and act as a cell phone drop off point for them.

• There is also a Cell Phones For Soldiers Canada website. See the link in the Resources section below.

Resources

• Cell Phones For Soldiers Website
• Canada - Cell Phones For Soldiers Website