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Concert to benefit Cell Phones for Soldiers

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



LONGMEADOW Anyone with a friend or relative overseas knows how difficult it can be to get in touch with him or her. The organization Cell Phones for Soldiers has a mission of helping the troops overseas call home, and two local musicians want to aid the organization in its efforts.

John Thomas and Janet Pohli, a baritone and a soprano, respectively, will be the featured performers in a concert titled "Reflections on War and Peace: Songs of War and Peace Over the Ages," taking place Oct. 26 at 3 p.m. at the First Church of Christ, 763 Williams St. An old cell phone drive for Cell Phones for Soldiers will be taking place during the concert, which is scheduled to last approximately 90 minutes.

Thomas and Pohli will be joined by Larry Sipull on piano and Linda Laderach on violin. Sipull and Laderach are both music professors at Mount Holyoke College.

"Both Janet and I have people we know directly or indirectly involved in the war," Thomas told Reminder Publications. "We wanted to help them and found this Massachusetts-based organization [Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded in Norwell, Mass.]. We thought we'd lend our talents to help them out."

Thomas' significant other returned from Kuwait this May and a close friend of Pohli's is currently serving in Iraq and will be coming home a week after the concert.

"This time last year my friend was sent over to Iraq," Pohli said. "I was having a difficult time dealing with the emotions that go along with watching a loved one go off to war, and being a singer tried to find some beautiful music to help voice my emotions."

Both members of the First Church, Thomas and Pohli will be performing a wide variety of solos and duets at their concert, featuring the works of composers like George Frideric Handel, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and more. All songs will tie into the theme of war and peace.

Old cell phones donated during the concert will be recycled for cash and the proceeds are then used to buy prepaid calling cards for soldiers serving in the Middle East. To date, Cell Phones for Soldiers has raised nearly $1 million and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards more than 12 million minutes to soldiers overseas.

Cell Phones for Soldiers hopes to collect over 100,000 cell phones this year to help keep U.S. troops connected with their families.

"Over the past few years, we have been amazed by the generosity of others," Brittany Bergquist, a co-founder of the organization, said. "We have also seen the need to support our troops continue."

Brittany and Robbie Bergquist started the non-profit organization with $21 of their own money eight years ago after reading about a soldier who ran up a huge phone bill calling home from Iraq.

"We're proud to show our support for U.S. soldiers and to contribute to a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers," Pohli stated.

The cell phones collected at the concert will be sent to ReCellular, which will either recondition and resell the phones or dismantle them to recycle their gold, silver, platinum, copper, nickel, iron, cadmium, lead and plastic parts.

"Americans will replace an estimated 130 million cell phones this year," Mike Newman, vice president of ReCellular, said. "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."

Thomas urges residents to bring their old cell phones and monetary donations of any size to the concert on Oct. 26.

To learn more about Cell

Phones for Soldiers, visit www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com.