Newspaper Page Text
“Kids
In April 2004, Brittany Bergquist, 13, and her brother
Robbie, 12, learned about a Massachusetts soldier serving in Iraq whose phone
bill was almost SB,OOO from all the calls to and from home.
“We didn’t think it was right that our troops had to pay to call home,” Brittany
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Siblings Robbie and Brittany Bergquist
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HELPING SOLDIERS
STAY IN TOUCH
says. So she and Robbie emptied their
piggy banks, asked friends in their
neighborhood of Norwell, Mass. (pop.
9,765), for contributions and opened
an account at the South Shore Savings
Bank in nearby Weymouth with the
s2l they collected. Impressed by their
sincerity, the bank gave them a SSOO
contribution, which helped launch a
program they dubbed Cell Phones for
Soldiers.
Four years later, the Bergquist siblings
have raised nearly $2 million from
donations and the sale of recycled cell
phones to purchase more chan 400,000
prepaid calling cards, which allow
soldiers to place calls without incurring
any charges. They've distributed the
cards to troops stationed abroad and
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personally handwritten thousands of
heartfelt messages to thank the soldiers
for their service.
Some 8,000 drop-off centers
nationwide accept cell phone donations
for Brittany and Robbie's nonprofit
organization. The phones are purchased
by ReCellular, a cellular recycler and
reseller, which donates money to Cell
Phones for Soldiers for each one. Each
donated phone provides the money to
purchase about an hour of talk time on
a prepaid card.
Those precious calls are a lifeline
for soldiers and their loved ones. "They can make a big difference in a
soldier's morale," say Quentin Carmichael, 29, the Bergquist siblings'
first cousin, who helped distribute the cards when he was stationed with
the U.S. Army in Kosovo in 2006.
The former first lieutenant recalls handing a stack of cards to one
soldier, who was divorced and worried sick about his daughter. “Later
he said to me, ‘Sir, being able to talk to my daughter regularly has
changed my whole life.’"
Brittany and Robbie have organized car washes and bake sales, and
solicited corporate sponsors to promote their cause. After Brittany
contacted AT&T last year, the company donated $875,000 in calling
cards and made 1,800 of their stores cell phone drop-off sices.
The siblings also devote countless hours answering e-mails and
addressing cards to soldiers. Because of security reasons, the military
doesn't provide lists and locations of deployed troops, so families and
individuals send in requests for calling cards.
Learning time-management skills has helped Brittany and Robbie
maintain typical teenage activities. Brittany, now 17, is a varsity sofcball
player, cheerleader and volunteer reader for the blind. Robbie, 16, plays
varsity soccer and tutors seventh-graders.
Their parents also pitch in. Mother Gail, a special-education teacher,
set up a sheltered workshop where students help with mailing. Father
Bob, also a teacher, donates much of his free time to che cause. "I still get
goose bumps when I think about what they started,” he says.
“They are just the nicest kids, very mature, sincere and well-spoken,”
says John Boucher, president of the bank that provided their project's seed
money. “I can see either one running for high political office someday.”
What motivates the Bergquist siblings? “Receiving letters and e-mails
of thanks from soldiers, hearing that you are their hero," Brittany says.
For Robbie, it was going to a deployment and watching families say
goodbye. “My father lifted up one little girl that was crying, and held
her up to the window so she could place her hand against her dad’s one
last time,” Robbie says.
“That’s what keeps me going—knowing I’m helping soldiers and their
loved ones keep in touch.” ★
Story by Karen Karwnen ofEngleumd, Colo.
Click on this story at americanpm/i/e.comtartkles to access the Cell Phones
for Soldiers website.
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The program
turns old
phones into
talk time.
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• www.americanprofile.com
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