Local boys find way to save lives with cell phones

The Ambler Gazette 05/27/2008 - By Melissa Brooks, Staff Writer (link to the actual story)  

Two local 11-year-old boys have found a way to help unwanted, lost and abused domestic animals: used cell phones.

Michael Webb of Ambler, a fifth-grader at United Friend School in Quakertown, and his friend, John Sutor, a Fort Washington Elementary fifth-grader, read a magazine article about an Oklahoma-based cell phone recycling company called PaceButler Corp. After learning this for-profit company purchases used cell phones in working condition from everyday people to resell them in bulk with a warranty to other companies, Michael and John, a couple of animal lovers, decided to host their own used cell phone drive through PaceButler to benefit the Montgomery County SPCA. According to a PaceButler spokeswoman, thousands of cell phones come in every day. The purpose, she said, is to get phones back out on the market and get more use out of them. Phones that come in defective or that are not on the company's purchase price list are recycled so toxic chemicals in cell phones stay out of landfills. PaceButler also works with nonprofit organizations like women's shelters, either providing them with cell phones or purchasing excess phones back so the shelters have money for other needs. Its fundraising department coordinates cell phone drives with many nonprofit organizations and clubs including cheerleading clubs, Boy Scout troops and Lions Clubs, she said, but not many individuals, like Michael and John, organize collections on their own. With the thought that most people probably have an old cell phone sitting around their house, the boys decided to turn the money they could get from PaceButler into an opportunity for needy animals. Over the past few weeks they went door-to-door in their neighborhoods and contacted relatives and old neighbors. Even the Webb's dog walker donated some money she earns from them, back to them, for this project.

As a result, the boys have a pile of old cell phones worth close to $100, based on Michael's online research using the company's purchase price list, which assigns anywhere from a 50 cents to a $50 value to a phone, depending on its model and make. Once the boys send the phones to the company, they will get money back, which will go directly to the local SPCA shelter. Michael said they think the money will be used for dog toys and food. "We don't want them to have to put animals to sleep," he said. The boys hope for this collection to be ongoing, so they can continually send money to the SPCA. Michael said he may even get his classmates involved in the project.

A drop-off box will be at the Montgomery County SPCA's Abington location, 1006 Edge Hill Road. For more information, contact Ed Davies, operations manager, at 215-886-8802. If this location is inconvenient, call Janet Webb, Michael's mother, at 267-251-3400, to make arrangements for cell phones to be picked up or dropped off elsewhere.