Group swaps phones for troops' calling cards

To most people, old, disconnected cell phones are just plain useless.

The worn mobile devices end up discarded or stuffed into miscellaneous drawers never to serve a purpose again.

David Messer wants to help change that - one cell phone at a time.

Messer, a Florence resident and president of I-Net Services Inc., is involved with Cell Phones For Soldiers, a nonprofit organization that has raised almost $2 million in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers on active duty.

The program was founded in 2004 by teenagers Robbie and Brittney Berquist, of Norwell, Mass., after they read about a soldier who ran up a high phone bill from calling his family.

Under the program, old cell phones are collected and sold to

ReCellular, a company that refurbishes or recycles the mobile devices.

According to Karen Greene, program manager for Cell Phones For Soldiers, the average profit earned from each phone can purchase a 60-minute calling card.

These calling cards are then distributed to service members stationed around the world.

Messer, whose family has a long history with the military, said it's a wonderful opportunity to be able to help servicemen and women communicate with their| families.

He first heard about the program when he received a cell phone mailer with his Amazon.com purchase.

"I thought it was a neat idea, but I wondered what I would do in the future," he said. "Would I have to wait for my next Amazon purchase to make a donation?"

According to Messer, his question spawned an idea.

He thought it would be great for the law office, where he has space, to become a drop-off point for the Cell Phones For Soldiers program.

In the past three months, his office has collected more than 300 phones.

Greene said the phones collected at the office have equated to about 21,000 minutes, or 350 hours of talk time.

"We are so grateful for the commitment of the city of Florence and the surrounding area to embrace the efforts to collect cell phones for Cell Phones for Soldiers," Greene said.

There are three locations in the Shoals area that serve as drop-off locations for the program.

Parkway Pak-N-Ship in Florence and Heart's Cry Ministry in Rogersville have participated in the effort as well.

Heart's Cry Ministry is a nonprofit organization started by David and Denise Melton in 2004.

"We started getting so many cell phones that I didn't know what to do with them," Denise Melton said.

She said the outpouring from the community has been wonderful.

"There are so many people buying or updating their cell phones, and they have no idea what to do with their old phones," she said. "Now, they have an option, and it makes everyone in the community feel good because they are being patriotic and helping out our soldiers."

Thaisi Da Silva can be reached at 740-5738.