Houston Northwest Medical Center is proud to support the thousands of men and women serving overseas by collecting used cell phones during the month of July. Cell phones will be donated to Cell Phones for Soldiers who will send them to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each phone – enough to provide an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad.

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered 501c3 non-profit organization has raised almost $1 million in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 100 to 130 million cell phones are no longer being used, with many languishing in storage. Reusing those 100 million cell phones would save enough energy to power more than 370,000 U.S. homes each year, the EPA added. There are tons of phones in junk drawers across America, waiting to be collected.

“We’re proud to show our support for U.S. soldiers, and to contribute to a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers,” says Marc Biehl, Director of Business Development at Houston Northwest Medical Center.

Local residents can support our troops and donate their unused cell phone by donating their phone at Houston Northwest Medical Center weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Information Desk from July 1 through July 30, 2010.

Three things to remember before you recycle your wireless phone:

- Terminate your service

- Clear the phone’s memory of contacts and other stored information. Go to www.recyclewirelessphones.com to learn how to do this;

- Remove your phone’s SIM card, if it has one. Phones that operate on GSM networks use SIM cards. If you are not sure if your phone uses a SIM card or if you need assistance removing your SIM card, contact your wireless provider.