Cell Phones for Soliders a Big Success

59,640 minutes. 1000 cellular phones.  The latter number represents Brian Kulbacki’s estimation on how many cell phones the community has donated through for .  The former represents the precise amount of minutes in talk time CPFS has provided U.S. troops with by recycling the items collected at the family firm.

While these may be large numbers to many, to the staff at the Brunswick Memorial Home, they’re not large enough. 

“We had set out to donate 1000 phones by Memorial Day 2011 and fell just shy of that goal,” said Peter Kulbacki, manager of the firm, “but the amount of minutes the community’s donations earned far exceeded our expectations, and that number doesn’t account for the boxes upon boxes of accessories we shipped.  I could not be happier.”

Cell Phones for Soldiers takes each shipment from Brunswick Memorial Home and recycles the devices, as well as any accessories that the firm receives with the donations, and turns that money directly into talk time for US Soldiers deployed away from their families.  While recently the bulk of the donations went overseas, troops all across the states were beneficiaries of the donations throughout the last year.

Brian Kulbacki said that individuals and families from all across Central New Jersey have contributed to their “campaign,” including all of the Brunswick’s, Monroe, Metuchen, and more. He added that they even received contributions from out-of-state individuals who heard about Brunswick Memorial Home’s effort from loved ones who had seen the funeral home’s Smart Car promoting the effort on the streets.

The firm would like to donate another 1,000 phones by Memorial Day 2012, and sees it as a much more realistic goal.

“Around this time of year, people are upgrading and tossing aside old phones, or they received something shiny and new as a Christmas gifts.  Instead of letting it gather dust, we’d like to encourage them to take a few minutes out of their day and drop it off here, no strings attached, and help a soldier out,” said Brian Kulbacki.

The funeral home will continue to accept used cell phones, and donations can be dropped off to the on Cranbury Road during regular business hours, or left in the drop box afterwards. 

More information on Brunswick Memorial Home or its charitable efforts can be found at www.BrunswickMemorialHome.com or by calling 732-254-9393.

-Brunswick Memorial Home