Locals help promote ‘Cell Phones for Soldiers’
By NATHAN BROWN, Enterprise Staff WriterArticle Photos
TUPPER LAKE - Volunteers on Saturday sent out the first batch of about 100 cell phones from the Tri-Lakes area collected as part of the national "Cell Phones for Soldiers" program.
According to county Legislator Paul Maroun of Tupper Lake, the program is coordinated in New York through members of the state Legislature. Maroun picked the phones up on Saturday and brought them to state Sen. Betty Little's district office in Glens Falls. From there, the phones will be sent to private companies to be fixed. The phones will be reprogrammed and sold, and for every phone they get, the companies will send a calling card with one hour of time on it to a U.S. serviceman or woman stationed abroad.
State Assemblywomen Teresa Sayward and Janet Duprey are also involved in collecting phones in the North Country.
"Cell Phones for Soldiers is all about giving back," said Mary LeBlanc, associate member of the Adirondack Leathernecks No. 1268 and one of the driving forces behind organizing the program in this area, "giving back to the service men and women who have given their commitment to us."
LeBlanc pointed out that packages and letters can take a while, but with a calling card, you can "talk when you need to talk."
Roger "Luke" LeClair donated 10 phones. The Tupper Lake Moose Lodge also donated a good number of phones, LeBlanc said.
"Cell phones for soldiers" was first started in Massachusetts in 2004 by 13-year-old Brittany Bergquist and her 12-year-old brother Robbie. It has since spread nationally. They have raised almost $1 million in donations, and sent out 400,000 calling cards totaling 12 million minutes.
Phones can be dropped off at the Veterans of Foreign Wars building on Park Street, or at the Vets' Club on Broadway in Saranac Lake.
"As long as our soldiers are in harm's way, we'll make it a point to get cell phones for them, no matter where they are," said Leathernecks Commandant Leon LeBlanc, Mary's husband.
Contact Nathan Brown at 891-2600 ext. 26 or nbrown@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
