Nathan Key

A local Cub Scout pack will do its part to keep soldiers overseas in touch with their loved ones.

Cub Scout Pack 241 of Hudson will collect cell phones Saturday, Nov. 21 from 9 a.m.-noon at the Hudson Town Hall. The community service project for the Pack is part of the national Cell Phones for Soldiers campaign.

"We're simply setting up a collection spot, and we'll have the Cub Scouts manning the tables," said Webelos Den Leader Robb Bolick. "We're just asking people to come by and drop off their old phones, whether they are working or not."

Once the phones are collected locally, they will be delivered to a collection site in Hickory. The materials from the phones will be recycled and sent to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone - enough to provide an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad. The money is used to purchase pre-paid calling cards for soldiers.

Cell Phones for Soldiers hopes to turn old cell phones into more than 12 million minutes of prepaid calling cards for U.S. troops deployed around the world. To do so, Cell Phones for Soldiers expects to collect 50,000 cell phones each month through a network of more than 3,000 collection sites across the country.

And all people have to do to help is drop off their old phones, allowing the local Cub Scouts an opportunity to fulfill a community service project.

"Americans will replace an estimated 130 million cell phones this year, with the majority of phones either discarded or stuffed in a drawer," said Mike Newman, vice president of ReCellular. "Most people don't realize that the small sacrifice of donating their unwanted phones can have a tremendous benefit for a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers."

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., in 2004 with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered 501c3 non-profit organization has raised almost $2 million in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

Pack 241 is taking part in the collection project to give back to soldiers who give so much for their country.

"It's a good tie with the Scouts," Bolick said of the project. "The Scouts and military are closely associated. We see this is an opportunity to give back to our community and remember our soldiers. It just seemed like a good community service opportunity."

The collection boxes will remain at Hudson Town Hall and Arby's Restaurant on U.S. 321 in Hudson for about a week.

Bolick said the service project Saturday will be conducted by fourth- and fifth-grade members of the Pack, which has about 70 Scouts. While those Scouts are collecting cell phones, other Pack members will be taking part in the Scouting for Food collection project.

Scouts from the Piedmont Council of Boy Scouts of America in Caldwell and Alexander counties distributed door hangers last week to homes throughout the two counties. Scouts will return to those homes Saturday to collect food that will be distributed to local food ministries like Lenoir Soup Kitchen, Yokefellow and South Caldwell Christian Ministries in Caldwell County.

Those people planning to participate in the food drive are asked to place bagged food items outside their front door by 9 a.m. Nov. 21 for collection by the Scouts. Food also can be dropped off at the Soup Kitchen or SCCM between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. the same day, or food can be taken to the State Farm Insurance office of Adam Sterken at 5234 Fairview Dr. SW, Lenoir at any time.