• WHAT: A way to put your old cell phones to good use
• WHY: It's the right thing to do
• COST: Zero - and you'll earn the gratitude of those that deserve it most

Last night I was opening a package from Amazon.com that contained a new headset for my iPhone - I've never liked the ones that were packaged with it as they don't block out enough noise - and there was something I had never seen before in the box.  A small plastic bag with a logo of a soldier and, in military-stencil-style print, the words "Cell Phones For Soldiers - Cell Phone Recycling Program" were at the top.  Intrigued, I did a little Googling and found out about this incredibly worthwhile program.

The name is a bit of a misnomer because the cell phones aren't actually given to the soldiers but the principle is there - you turn in your old cell phone (which is probably just taking up space in your desk drawer) and the benefits go to someone in the U.S. military who is stationed overseas.  This whole process is the brainchild of two kids - 12 and 13 years old when they started it - who wanted to do the right thing when they heard about some poor soldier who ran up a huge phone bill trying to stay in touch with his family from the war zone he was stationed in.  

The kids felt badly for the soldier when they read the story in their local paper and - no kidding - broke open their piggy bank, collected some other money and opened an account in a local bank to help fund prepaid calling cards for military personnel stationed overseas.  The bank kicked in $500 (wow - a bank with a heart!) to help the effort along.  Then they did something really, really smart - they connected with a cell phone recycler that's very well-known within the industry, ReCellular, and made a deal.  For each cell phone that they send to ReCellular, ReCellular sends them a prepaid calling card with an hour of calling time on it.  ReCellular then does with the phone what they do with all of the other thousands (maybe millions) of phones they get every year - they sell it in another place overseas or they strip it for parts needed to repair other phones in order to make them functional.  

The program is called, simply, Cell Phones For Soldiers, and has apparently become a fairly sizable operation.  The envelope that I received had a bar-coded lagel on it, probably to track where the phone came from (you don't need to identify yourself when contributing a phone) so that they know which of their partners is being productive.  The envelope arrived in package from Amazon.com, and given how many packages they ship per day, there could be hundreds of thousands of these envelopes in circulation already.   Their site has a great selection of photos showing the kids (now teens) who created the program and many of the soldiers who've benefitted from it. 

You can donate a phone or even become a drop-off point for others to donate theirs if you've got a business that gets some traffic from the public.  

Nobody is "for" war.  And nobody is owed more than our military who put themselves in harm's way every day so that we can write, comment, espouse, pontificate, work, play, buy, sell, trade and enjoy life in the unique freedom we have in this country.  Whether you're a lover or hater of the current administration, whether you're a supporter or protester of the war in Iraq, whether you're aware or unaware of all the other places where we maintain a presence requiring troop deployment, you've got to admit that this is a worthy, worthwhile cause.  

If you've got an old cell phone that's idly taking up space somewhere, put it to good use.  And even if you don't, you can still make a donation to a great cause.  I did.