Vietnam Veterans, Chapter 787 has gone green
2/20/2010 , Press Release
 Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 787 has gone green, starting a program collecting old cell phones in an effort to raise funds for causes benefitting veterans. Bloomingdale resident Tom Hall, a Marine who served his country for 11 years, 19 months in Vietnam, said, “We wore green when we served our country and now we have gone green to help the environment.”
This active veterans unit collects then recycles the phones, earning money to fund projects aiding outreach to homeless veterans, enhancing educational programs in local schools, awarding JROTC awards each year, and providing holiday meals at Thanksgiving and Christmas to homeless women veterans enrolled in the Tampa VA Healthcare for the Homeless program. “We also actively support the Fisher House at the Tampa VA hospital and assist in meeting needs at the nursing home. We are also active in supporting the needs of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. It is safe to say that 93% of funds raised for the year go to our various programs due to a very low overhead,” said Hall.
The unit collects phones at three local drop off points: the AT&T store on Lithia-Pinecrest, Car Wash on the Greens at the corner of Lithia-Pinecrest and Erindale and the AT&T store in Sun City. Hall also accepts donations dropped off on his front porch of his Somerset home, 2209 Allwood Avenue in Bloomindale. At least once a month, they send them to a recycling company in Fort Lauderdale, earning varying amounts per phone depending on condition, age and model number of the donation.
Hall encourages businesses that may be replacing their employee’s cell phones to consider donating their old phones to their cause. “Our organization relies solely on public donations, grants and other means as a source of revenues to fund our various veteran’s projects throughout the year,” said Hall. Chapter 787 operates on the National Veterans’ organization’s founding principal - “Never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another generation of veterans”. “Our Chapter believes in this founding principle and is dedicated to fulfill our obligation to all veterans,” he said.
For more information on the cell phone recycling program, contact Hall at 655-7129.
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