When Robbie was 12 and his sister Brittany was 13, they heard the story of a soldier returning from Iraq with a near $8,000 phone bill. They couldn’t believe that a man serving his country was unable to call his family for free. So they decided to do something about it. In 2004 with just $21 and some help from their parents, Cell Phones for Soldiers was born. Today the nonprofit organization provides cost-free communication services and emergency funding to active-duty military members and veterans. They've provided more than 300 million minutes of free talk time and have recycled 15 million cell phones for the cause. Robbie, now age 25, is the recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service and was recently named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 List.  Donate your used cell phone to Cell Phones for Soldiers here.  This episode is sponsored by the Tikker, the death watch that counts down your life (and tells the time). Use the promo code SHIN at the checkout to get a 10% discount on your purchase. Robbie Bergquist's Reading List How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie Robbie Bergquist Show Notes Robbie Bergquist and his sister heard about a soldier who had an $8,000 phone bill he racked up while calling home while deployed. They had two cousins in the armed services and so the issue touched their young hearts Back in 2004-05, Cell Phones for Soldiers raised money to pay off cell phone bills for soldiers. One bill was $15,000! Shortly after, Cell Phones for Soldiers began to raise awareness within the armed forces in Afghanistan about the different cell phone towers and the different costs associated with them When Robbie and Brittany got distracted, their parents encouraged them to keep going Robbie and Brittany missed a lot of school. They missed out on soccer and cheerleading practices because of all their traveling on behalf of Cell Phones for Soldiers They were getting a lot of media coverage and attention and were going on speaking tours at age 12 and 13. By 2006, they had collected tens of thousands of old cell phones and they didn’t know what to do with them They wanted to send the cell phones overseas to the soldiers but after a media appearance announcing the plan, they were asked to cease and desist by the State Department because insurgents could triangulate the calls “The Department of State told us to cease and desist our original plan. We were very discouraged.” Instead, they decided to recycle and sell the cell phones to purchase calling cards that they could send to soldiers Calling from landlines using calling cards is better for security purposes Cell Phones for Soldiers has a facility in Alpharetta, Georgia where they collect and refurbish used cell phones They determine the value of the used phones and resell them Unusable phones will be scrapped for basic materials and recycled properly to reduce the impact on landfills An ex-Verizon executive came on board to work for the charity. Five volunteers work at the facility “You’re supposed to create a business plan, a roadmap, and benchmarks. But for us, it was a lot of trial and error.” Robbie’s uncles were in the telecommunications business and came to help, providing the idea to recycle and sell cell phones “Our meetings took place at the kitchen table.” “You don’t need a board room or wear suits and ties.” “My parents were a little naive as to how much traction we were going to get. They did not know we would be in all 50 states, collecting millions of phones.” Cell Phones for Soldiers has 4,000 dropoff locations Supporters hold collection drives where they spread awareness Lake Orion High School in Michigan has a dropoff location and the student body turned in used cell phones and the SGA donated $1 per cell phone collected. They raised a total of $5,000 total! Most of Robbie Berg