The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

September 6, 2010

Beckley Area Foundation to launch fundraiser

From staff reports

Frequently people think philanthropy is limited to the rich and famous. Not true. “Everyone Can Be a Philanthropist” when they act upon their desire to help others.

The Beckley Area Foundation is kicking off the first of a series of opportunities designed to focus on giving at tonight’s 24th annual West Virginia Symphony pops concert. The event begins at 7 p.m. in the Woodrow Wilson High School Auditorium. Although the concert is free, attendees are encouraged to be a philanthropist by recycling old cell phones.

Jon Calfee, member of the BAF Board of Directors and Calfee Funeral Home vice president, became an active philanthropist through his involvement with Cell Phones for Soldiers in 2010 as a member of Veterans and Family Memorial Care, a national network of family-owned and operated funeral homes that honor and pay tribute to veterans each and every day.

“Cell Phones for Soldiers is a great way anyone can support our troops. The cell phones are sold to a company that recycles them and the money from the sale is used to purchase calling cards that are sent to our soldiers serving overseas,” Calfee said.

Founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist of Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money, Cell Phones for Soldiers started as an expression of gratitude to United States military men and women. To date, it has distributed millions of prepaid calling cards to troops serving overseas by funds acquired through recycling unused cell phones.

It is estimated that 100 million to 130 million cell phones are no longer being used, many languishing in drawers or boxes. Additionally, according to the EPA, if Americans recycled 100 million phones, enough upstream energy could be saved to power more than 194,000 U.S. households for a year.

If consumers were able to reuse those 100 million cell phones, the environmental savings would be even greater, saving enough energy to power more than 370,000 U.S. homes each year.

Sponsored by the Beckley Area Foundation with additional underwriting from the Carter Family Foundation, the West Virginia Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, this free concert features West Virginia’s premier performing arts organization, the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Grant Cooper.

If you are unable to attend the concert but have a cell phone to donate, you may still drop it at Calfee Funeral Home, 803 S. Oakwood Ave., Beckley, or inside the Rahall Company Store at the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine.

Questions about the concert or other ways of being a philanthropist should be directed to the Beckley Area Foundation office at 304-253-3806.

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