JB MDL helps servicemembers call home Published April 20, 2010 By Airman 1st Class Bryan M. Swink Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- With more than 150,000 servicemembers serving overseas, keeping in touch with family and friends while deployed can be difficult. Members of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst are doing their part to increase communication between servicemembers and loved ones by participating in the Cell Phones for Soldiers program. The program supplies international phone cards to deployed servicemembers. This nonprofit organization collects and recycles used cell phones, using the proceeds to purchase calling cards for servicemembers so they can stay connected to loved ones back home. A servicemember receives a 100-minute international calling card for each cell phone donated through the program. Not only does the program generate phone cards, it also works to eliminate conflict in third-world countries. Many of the minerals found in cell phones and other electronic devices contain minerals that are fought over in many African countries, said Jennifer Armento, 87th Civil Engineer Squadron, natural resource management specialist. "Armed militia groups from Congo, Rwanda and Uganda finance themselves through the illicit conflict mineral trade," she said. "They fight over control of mines and taxation points inside of the countries." Armento estimates nearly a billion new phones will be sold this year. The life-span of most phones is approximately 18 months. Less than 1 percent of those will be recycled. Teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist, from Norwell, Mass., founded Cell Phones for Soldiers with $21 of their own money, as explained on the official Web site. Since then, the nonprofit organization has raised approximately $2 million in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas. The program's goal is to collect 50,000 cell phones by the end of 2010. Since April 2009, JB MDL members donated more than 400 used phones. "I hope that the JB MDL community will help support our deployed servicemembers by bringing in all those unused cell phones," said Armento. "Any cell phone, no matter the condition, will make a difference." Cell phone drop-off locations are located at the United Communities leasing office, the JB MDL library, 87th CES in Building 5317, transportation office in Building 5139, Noncommissioned Officer Academy in Building 5518 and the Lakehurst Gym. E-mail jennifer.armento@mcguire.af.mil or visit www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com for more information.