Hours Add Up to Free Minutes
Teens Collect Cellphones, Send 100,000 Calling Cards to U.S. Soldiers in Iraq
Robbie and Brittany Bergquist sort donated cellphones, which they sell to help fund their effort to help soldiers stay connected to home.
(Family Photo)
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How much money is in your piggy bank? Would you give it away to someone who needed it? Brittany and Robbie Bergquist did. They turned $21 and an idea into a million-dollar charity.
One night three years ago Brittany and Robbie were watching the news at home in Norwell, Massachusetts. The kids, then 13 and 12, heard a story about an American soldier in Iraq who was struggling to pay his $8,000 cellphone bill.
They were surprised that the government didn't help him. So the kids pooled their money and some extra from friends and opened a bank account of $21 to help the soldier.
Much to their surprise, bank employees contributed $500 to the cause. "That really jump-started our program," says Robbie, now 15.
From $21 to $1.2 Million!
The Bergquist teens have now raised $1.2 million for their charity, Cell Phones for Soldiers, and have sent more than 100,000 phone calling cards to soldiers in Iraq. (Government rules prohibit sending cellphones directly.)
"We're giving Americans a way to help the troops," says Robbie.
The effort started small: The kids raised money with car washes and bake sales. But after they bought an ad in a local paper, reporters began to call. The next thing they knew, camera crews from CNN, NBC, CBS and Fox were coming to their house to interview them.
"It was nerve-racking," Brittany, 16, says of the first interviews she and her brother gave.
The two decided they needed more ways to raise money. They teamed with ReCellular, a company that recycles cellphones. Brittany and Robbie started collecting phones donated from around the country and selling them to ReCellular.
