People really love our story. We raised awareness by doing interviews like this and just letting people know that there was a problem, that military members were having huge cell phone bills and that we needed help support them.
-Rob Bergquist
Episode Summary
There are many dedicated Veterans’ advocates out there, and we’ve had the opportunity to interview many here on Veteran Voices, but very few of them made national news for their efforts at age 12.
Rob Bergquist is the Co-Founder and Director at Cell Phones For Soldiers, a nonprofit that provides cost-free communication tools to active-duty military members and low-income veterans via responsibly recycling cell phones and other electronic devices. He and his sister, who was only 13 at the time, were featured in a story on CBS Nightly News in 2004. They seized the momentum and never looked back – until the Department of Defense called and told them to ‘cease and desist.’
Rob joined Veteran Voices host Scott Luton to share the Cellphones For Soldiers backstory and mission:
- How he went from the Pentagon sending him back to square one to providing over 400 million minutes’ worth of airtime to service members
- The shift in need they are seeing with less service members deployed internationally, and how they are evolving in response
- What Rob and his team observed about giving during the pandemic
Episode Transcript
Intro/Outro (00:03):
Welcome to supply chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues. The challenges and entities Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on supply chain now.
Scott Luton (00:32):
Hey, good morning by Scott Luton with supply chain now. Welcome to today’s show. We are continuing our cov coverage here at the 18th annual versus just association, conference and expo. It is, uh, right here in Vegas, a center of the universe for all things, returns management, reverse logistics, and a whole bunch more. And I’m here with my new best friend, a wonderful feature guest here, Rob Bergquist a a co-founder with a powerful dynamic nonprofit called cell phones for soldiers, Rob, how you doing?
Rob Bergquist (01:01):
Doing good, Scott. Thanks for having me on.
Scott Luton (01:03):
Great to see you. Yeah. Great to see you. I love what you do and looking forward to diving into it, uh, a lot more and sharing with our listeners as we were chatting a second ago, we have, we missed each other kind of two ships tonight and a couple years ago when we were here blast. So it’s good to find, be able to feature all the good work you are doing at cell phones for.
Rob Bergquist (01:22):
Absolutely. I appreciate you, uh, continuing to try to get me on. I’m glad we could finally connect. This is great.
Scott Luton (01:27):
It’s got tough agent. We have tough
Rob Bergquist (01:28):
Agent.
Scott Luton (01:30):
Um, right, so let’s start Rob by getting know you a little better, right? Um, so a couple of quick hidden questions I’m gonna lead off with. Hey, where did you grow up?
Rob Bergquist (01:39):
I grew up in Norwell, Massachusetts Norwell, Massachusetts. I, gosh, you said it was a long day earlier. It’s been a long day for me too Massachusetts. Right?
Scott Luton (01:47):
Last time I was here. Yeah. Last time I was here, I got my own last name wrong. So yes. Days are long in Las Vegas for sure. Norwell, Massachusetts, correct?
Rob Bergquist (01:55):
Yeah. It’s on the south shores, uh, towards Cape Cod. And uh, we’re talking about the distance between Norwell and Shrewsbury and right. It’s about 45 minutes. I, I think between those two locations, so,
Scott Luton (02:05):
And Shrewsbury folks is home to the world, famous Kelly Barner who leads our dial P for procurement. We have to get you connected with Kelly and she’s a huge veteran’s advocate. Yeah. So maybe it would definitely get y’all connected. Great. Even, even though really Rob, you grew up Massachusetts Norwell, but you live in Metro Atlanta, right?
Rob Bergquist (02:23):
Yes. I live in Alpharetta. So just north of Atlanta. And uh, I’ve been down there for about seven years now. Oh, you’re a native. I’m a native. Yeah. Well see my, I, I went to UMass Amherst and my, our football team is really bad. So I’m a Georgia bulldog, you know, I’m a, I’m a Georgia boy. Now anybody that, uh, you know, wins the national championship. I I’m a, I’m a Georgia boy now,
Scott Luton (02:42):
Man, what a year? The bull dog. Um, What, so Norwell, gimme one thing that, that town is known for one thing that maybe folks don’t know about Norwell
Rob Bergquist (02:52):
Norwell, it’s a pretty forgettable town, honestly. It’s, uh, it’s the it’s, it’s one of the only towns on the south shore that isn’t, uh, directly on, on the water. Okay. Um, so I guess
Scott Luton (03:05):
No beach,
Rob Bergquist (03:06):
No beach. We’re surrounded by towns with beaches, but Norville doesn’t have a beach. So there’s Noel’s uh, Jeff Corwin. You remember Jeff cor she’s the, uh, the animal? Uh, yeah, guy. The
Scott Luton (03:18):
Russ
Rob Bergquist (03:19):
Not animal wrestler. Oh. But he was, uh, I don’t know. He was good with animal chef corn. He was on like animal. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He’s from Norwell. He’s from
Scott Luton (03:27):
Nor wrestler. Is he really? Yeah. Yeah.
Rob Bergquist (03:29):
I think he might be the most famous person from Norwell.
Scott Luton (03:31):
Crikey. No, no, no, not like, yeah,
Rob Bergquist (03:34):
Maybe. Am I saying the wrong? No, maybe not chef corn. I don’t know.
Scott Luton (03:38):
But the animal
Rob Bergquist (03:40):
Yeah.
Scott Luton (03:41):
Animal handle
Rob Bergquist (03:42):
Handler from Norwell. Um, maybe it wasn’t Jeff Corwin, but,
Scott Luton (03:45):
Well, we’ll look it up. I forget his name. Maybe, uh, maybe our online researcher right now. Maybe Amanda can look that up. Animal
Rob Bergquist (03:53):
A handler in Norwell, Massachusetts
Scott Luton (03:55):
Famous animal handler from Norwell, Massachusetts. Okay. Okay. So from Norwell yes. To Alpharetta. Yep. Right? Two, uh, cell phones for soldiers in just a second, but a couple quick hitters. Favorite sports team of all time,
Rob Bergquist (04:09):
New England Patriots,
Scott Luton (04:10):
New England Patriots for pats. Life’s been good as a pats fan.
Rob Bergquist (04:14):
Life has been great as a pats fan.
Scott Luton (04:16):
Well, uh, how many? Seven super bowls.
Rob Bergquist (04:18):
Six super bowls.
Scott Luton (04:19):
Six
Rob Bergquist (04:20):
With Tom Brady. Tom Brady.
Scott Luton (04:22):
Yeah. And, and he’s retiring.
Rob Bergquist (04:23):
He’s retiring. Uh,
Scott Luton (04:26):
But Pat’s nation still has gotta love Tom, even though he gotta love
Rob Bergquist (04:28):
Him. Yeah. Gotta love him. I hope he wins the MVP this year. You know, that’s such a better story to have, uh, a 44 year old riding out on top, winning the super bowl other than, you know, Aaron Rogers who, you know, didn’t go get, you know, he lied by out his COVID vaccination. What’s a better story, Tom Brady, 44 years old riding off into the sun. Sunset. Yes. Um, so hopefully he wins the MVP at, we, we all cheer for him still in past nation.
Scott Luton (04:51):
I would, gosh. Yeah. Six, six, my gosh. He
Rob Bergquist (04:53):
Gave
Scott Luton (04:54):
Us everything. No kidding. Uh, incredible. And, and, and he kept, um, I 46 or something
Rob Bergquist (05:02):
44,
Scott Luton (05:02):
I think 44, but in his forties playing MVP caliber football. Yep.
Rob Bergquist (05:07):
So he’s
Scott Luton (05:08):
A legend. He is a legend. Uh, all right. So let’s talk about your favorite, a favorite movie or book.
Rob Bergquist (05:15):
Yeah, I was thinking about this and I think it’s gotta be dark night,
Scott Luton (05:18):
Dark night,
Rob Bergquist (05:19):
Batman
Scott Luton (05:19):
Is that, uh, um,
Rob Bergquist (05:22):
That’s with, uh, Christian bale and, uh, I who plays the joker Keith
Scott Luton (05:29):
Ledger. Keith heat ledger. He’s
Rob Bergquist (05:30):
Ledger. Yeah.
Scott Luton (05:31):
Yeah. Not his cousin. Keith ledger, not
Rob Bergquist (05:32):
His cousin, Keith, but heat ledger. Yes. That
Scott Luton (05:35):
Was, that was a classic
Rob Bergquist (05:36):
Classic movie. You know, some of the scenes in that are, are just incredible. So agreed. I’ve watched that know probably 10 or 15 times
Scott Luton (05:44):
Christian Bell is one heck of a Batman too. He
Rob Bergquist (05:46):
Sure is the bat.
Scott Luton (05:48):
Jeff cor you were right. Jeff cor Jeff
Rob Bergquist (05:50):
Corwin. Yeah. Right.
Scott Luton (05:51):
You was right. Jeff Corwin. Yeah. We just got it confirmed. Okay. Malcolm who leads our research? Uh, Jeff Corwin is from Norwell, Massachusetts. Okay. So dark Knight, favorite movie. So we’ve got a outstanding veterans advocate with us and you come from a history of a family, uh, with a history, a proven service. Tell us more about
Rob Bergquist (06:10):
That. Yeah. So my grandfather served in the Marines and, uh, so he was my, you know, first, you know, true hero. And so, you know, I always had, uh, an appreciation and an affiliation with, with the military and my, uh, two cousins, uh, were active duty, uh, when I first started cell phones for soldiers. Um, so it was just a natural progression for, for us to want to support the military. And, you know, I’ll tell you about how cell phones for soldiers start, but really our, our inspiration was our, our cousins who were active duty at the time when we first started it. So, um, I come from a long line of, of, of service members. And so I just have a huge appreciation for the, for the military. Love
Scott Luton (06:49):
That. All right. So I’m gonna ask you about a key Eureka Eureka moment, but I wanna ask you, I think for context, I’m gonna circle back to that question. So for now let’s talk more about what the nonprofit does, cell phones for soldiers. So how does it work?
Rob Bergquist (07:04):
Yeah, so, uh, cell phones for soldiers initially started back in 2004. Uh, I was 12 years old. My sister Britney was 13 years old. We were getting ready for school one morning. And, uh, we had the, the news on, and there was a story of a soldier with an eighth thousand dollars cell phone bill, uh, calling home from Afghanistan. And, uh, so again, my, my cousins were active duty at the time we hadn’t heard for, from them, uh, for a couple weeks. And that was just kind of the status quo that, uh, you, you often didn’t hear from the military members back in 2004. Uh, and if you did hear from them, it was very brief. It was usually in the middle of the night. Um, there wasn’t a lot of infrastructure over there, right. Uh, for, for calling home. So when we saw the story, uh, of the, of the soldier with the $8,000 bill, we were like, this is ridiculous.
Rob Bergquist (07:49):
He’s protecting our freedom. Uh, he shouldn’t have to pay such a large cell phone bill just to, to want to talk to his family. Right. So we started, uh, with car washes and bake sales in our hometown at normal Massachusetts and, uh, whatever it took, whatever it took. Yeah. We were just trying to, you know, just do whatever we could to, to help him pay off that bill. So we were successful in doing so, uh, and we were very lucky to be covered by CBS nightly news. So we got some great national media recognition really because, you know, we’re a 12 and 13 year old, uh, brother and sister, we weren’t fighting, we weren’t playing video games and we were, you know, supporting the military. And it was just a, a, a story that, um, I think, you know, really struck a chord with a lot of, uh, of America at that time back in 2004, when we had tens of thousands of military members who were deployed.
Rob Bergquist (08:34):
Um, and so, you know, building off of that momentum, we, we got a lot of inquiries about, um, you know, donating to, to our program, but also, uh, you know, we had inquiries from military members saying, you know, I have a $15,000 cell phone bill. So $8,000, wasn’t even the largest bill that we paid off. Um, but we, we realized that it was a systemic problem that military members, uh, across the board were having difficulty calling home. Um, and, and that they were coming up with huge cell phone bills. So we decided that we would generate, uh, uh, a program call it cell phones for soldiers. Uh, so people, uh, associated cell phones for soldiers with their old cell phones. So people, we started donating, um, their cell phones, right. So we were like, all right, well, you know, we’ll, we’ll put minutes on these phones and we’ll send them overseas.
Rob Bergquist (09:22):
So we went on to CNN and, uh, we explained our story, right. And, uh, a few hours after that interview, we got a call from the department of defense okay. Saying that it was a security hazard and that we had to cease and Des oh, wow. So my dad got a phone call from a general at the, at the Pentagon and literally got, and, and we literally had to stop what we were doing. So if we were back to the drawing board, what are we gonna do with all these cell phones? Uh, and we decided that we would, uh, recycle the devices in order to generate revenue, uh, to purchase prepaid calling cards, which we would send overseas. Uh, and those prepaid calling cards are used with a landline. Um, so it’s a secure line, right? So all you gotta do is just, you dial a one 800 number, you scratch off the pin and you can connect to anywhere in the world for 60 minutes. Um, so fast forward to, uh, 2022, and we’ve sent over 20 million of those prepaid calling cards. 20 million bridge is, uh, over 400 million minutes worth of air time that service members have, uh, used those calling cards to connect with family. Uh, you know, they, whatever you do on the phone, you know, just connect and it bridges the, it bridges the gap, uh, the communication gap and hopefully bridges, um, the gap, you know, between, uh, uh, between service members and their families
Scott Luton (10:39):
Man, 400 million minutes. Yeah. You know, one of our favorite sayings around here, Rob, we like to share with folks and challenge folks is deeds not worse. Right, man. Y’all are getting it done. Yeah. Taking action since 2004, 400 million minutes. That’s that blows me away. What you mentioned, um, a sister. Yes. So who is, did you found co-found it together?
Rob Bergquist (11:03):
Yeah, co-found it together? I mean that morning, it literally was. We, we ran upstairs together at the same time and we both bought, brought down our piggy bank money. Wow. So it started with $14 of our piggy bank money. We went to school that day. We got another $7. So $21 that we had accumulated on that first day with my sister. And we went to the bank, we opened up a bank account, the bank donated $500 to open up our account. We were like, wow. You know, we’re, we’re off to a great start brand. So people, uh, really love the story. And my sister was a huge part of it. Um, and, and we really raised awareness, uh, together, you know, doing interviews like this and just letting people know that it was a, there was a problem, you know, that military members were having huge cell phone bills and that we needed help to, to, to support them. And so, um, Brit was alongside me all through middle school, through high school, through college. She went off to, to work in Massachusetts and, and she’s still up in Massachusetts. Yeah. And I decided that I to, she is not in nor she’s in Pembroke now. Uh, but, uh, she’s still on the south shore. Yeah. And, um, yeah, she’s Brit great Brit Brittany.
Scott Luton (12:08):
Well, Brittany, if you’re listening big, thanks to what you and Rob are doing. This is, this is, is wonderful stuff. Yeah. So let’s, um, we’re gonna make sure folks know how to support cell phones for soldiers. We’ll do that in a minute, but let’s, let’s look at 2021. Yep. Right now that we kind of, we got a better idea of the story and what you do and, and the problems you are solving for our dear, uh, military members, 2021 key Eureka moment. What did last year teach you?
Rob Bergquist (12:34):
Yeah, there’s a couple things I think, you know, in, in regards to cell phones for soldiers, uh, we we’ve really seen the mission kind of change because our phone cards aren’t being requested as much as, as they previously were. And that’s for a couple reasons, there’s, you know, there’s less men and women that are, are deployed. Right. Um, and there’s more access for, for deployed service members to, to voiceover IP systems, to wifi capabilities like zoom and like Skype. And so our calling cards aren’t needed as much as they used to be. And that’s almost like mission accomplished for cell phones for soldiers, but the phone cards. And so, you know, in 2021, we really pivoted our mission to start supporting a lot of veterans that were returning from overseas that might have fallen into a little bit of trouble financially that that just needed support, uh, with, with their phone service, uh, back here domestically.
Rob Bergquist (13:22):
Yep. So that’s really where we kind of transitioned our mission is to start supporting a lot of veterans cuz we get a lot of men and women that will reach out to us and say, Hey, you know, I really appreciate the phone cars when we were deployed. Um, are you doing anything here at home? And for the longest time, we, we really haven’t had a solution for them. Um, but we, we are in the process of developing, uh, low cost and affordable phone service and completely subsidized phone service for veterans that qualify. And we’re gonna be launching that here in 2022, but in 2021, we really saw, uh, our mission needs change. Uh, and so from, for, from a charity standpoint in 2021, that was, that was a huge pivot for us. We also noticed that that donations really increased during the pandemic. Uh, and that was because a lot of these, uh, corporations that we work with had end of life product that they couldn’t move off their shelves. And so, and it’s just because people were buying a lot less. Uh, and so we, we saw that our donations actually went up. So although the pandemic was, was tragic and terrible, I mean, it actually really was, uh, a boom for, for the charity in terms of our increase in donations. So, uh, 2021 was a really fascinating and, and, and big changing year for, for cell phones for soldiers.
Scott Luton (14:29):
So with this pivot. Yeah. Uh, and first of all, that’s great to hear. It’s great to hear that, uh, the, the original problem it’s starting to be, uh, to be addressed. That’s great, right. Modern technology. It’s also great to hear folks want to give and support such a great cause. Right? With this pivot, you’ll be able to serve more folks that are really in need. Right?
Rob Bergquist (14:49):
Absolutely. And it’s actually, it’s fascinating because what we were spending to, to purchase these calling cards for 60 minutes, we’ll be able to provide almost unlimited talk, text and data, uh, with a phone for just a few dollars more than, than what it costs just for a 60 minute phone card. Wow. So we’re actually, we’re creating a far more efficient, uh, phone service, uh, here, domestically that that is gonna help a, a ton of veterans. And so we’re very excited to get that up and launched.
Scott Luton (15:14):
Wonderful, wonderful. Uh, so let’s, let’s make sure as that comes to fruition, let’s connect and have you back and we’ll have an update. Definitely.
Rob Bergquist (15:22):
Okay.
Scott Luton (15:22):
Absolutely.
Rob Bergquist (15:23):
Uh,
Scott Luton (15:23):
Not CBS and CNN. That’s pretty impressive to be on those worldwide.
Rob Bergquist (15:28):
Uh, yeah. Well, I think, I think we got onto those because we, you know, I was, I was 14 years old. I was far cuter than I am now. You know what I mean? So we were getting, we were getting the big shows because love it, man. My sister was, was a beautiful, you know, young lady and I was
Scott Luton (15:42):
Purpose driven, purpose
Rob Bergquist (15:43):
Driven. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. And so I, I, we were just getting the big shows back then. I
Scott Luton (15:47):
Love it. I love it. Uh, all right. So let’s, uh, I wanna talk about what makes this work so rewarding. So you founded cell phones for soldiers in 2004 officially,
Rob Bergquist (15:59):
Officially,
Scott Luton (16:00):
Officially. So it’s gosh, almost 20 years.
Rob Bergquist (16:03):
Almost 20 years. Yeah. It’ll be 18 years in April,
Scott Luton (16:06):
18 years in April. Okay. So what makes the do something 18 years? What makes you tick? What, why do you find the so rewarding?
Rob Bergquist (16:13):
Yeah. You know, cell phones for soldiers is a really interesting organization because not only are we supporting the military, which I absolutely absolutely love, uh, we’re also keeping, you know, cell phones outta landfills and we’re responsibly recycling devices. And so I, I also have a passion for, um, you know, just sustainability and, uh, and for the greater good of the world, you know? And so the fact that we, we get people that reach out to us and say, you know, I didn’t really, I didn’t really know where to put my phone. So I’m really glad that you guys could take it off my hands. And so it’s way better than, than those ending up in landfills and just being thrown out. So, you know, there’s a lot of different aspects of cell phones for soldiers that I really love and that continues to drive me. Um, but you know, hearing from a lot of the, the military members, uh, and, and hearing what the phone calls meant to them, that the
Scott Luton (16:58):
Folks you’ve
Rob Bergquist (16:58):
Assisted, the folks have assisted. Yeah, yeah. That we’ve assisted, that continues to drive me daily hearing stories of, um, you know, gold star mothers who the last time they spoke to their, their child was with our phone cards. We, we get those, we still get those calls and, and we still get those emails, people that have opened up Christmas presents, uh, with our phone cards, people that have been sitting at Thanksgiving, you know, dinner, and they’ve just been on the phone with their family. And that’s because of our phone cards, we hear those stories. And, um, when, when you have those moments, you think about, you know, when, like, when I have those moments, when I’m, you know, having Thanksgiving and dinner, I think about those people that are deployed and that can’t be talking to their families. And I think about the impact that cell phones for soldiers has been able to have, uh, connecting families. And, uh, it just makes you, you know, very appreciative of, of all the blessings that you have. And so, you know, cell phones for soldiers reminds me daily, uh, of, of what I’m grateful for and, you know, the people that don’t always get the opportunity to experience the things that I, I so much enjoy and love.
Scott Luton (18:01):
Yeah. I can, I can only imagine hearing from these people, gosh, gold star families. Yeah. Uh, that’s gotta be the, some of the best part to this whole journey you’re on.
Rob Bergquist (18:09):
Yeah, it is. It is. It’s, uh, I never would’ve imagined that cell phones for soldiers, uh, would have grown into this organization years, 18 years. And I think we’ve been around 18 years because, uh, we’re, we’re not asking for, for a dollar, you know, everybody, everybody only has so many dollars in their pocket. Right. And we get to, we get to ask for something that, you know, other people may not want or need anymore, which is their old cell phone. And so we’re able to almost one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Right. And, uh, we’re able to create value out of something that would be obsolete for other people. And so I think that’s why, you know, for 18 years we we’ve been able to remain in the forefront of the military in this fashion. So,
Scott Luton (18:51):
So let’s talk about that, uh, for a minute, Rob, we’re here at the reverse logistics association conference and expo. Uh, we’ve got a field room, a big audience here. Right. Um, so that sustainability side of things, right. Talk about how long you’ve been collaborating with a cause y’all were here, as we talked about last time we were here as well. Um, talk about your partnership and, and what makes it so successful.
Rob Bergquist (19:15):
Yeah. So, uh, LA, uh, and, and with Tony, uh, we’ve been collaborating with them for a couple years now. Uh, our first, uh, time exhibiting here on the, on the floor was in 2019, right before the pandemic hit. And, uh, this is our, our second time in exhibiting. And, uh, it’s been great to, to be here with the RLA because they really put us on a, on a platform to be able to collaborate with, with industry professionals that, you know, cell phones for soldiers needs to work with in order to maximize, uh, the, the, the revenue and the profits for us to, to create value for, for our missions. So I I’ve had wonderful conversations with, of, uh, industry professionals that have access to the hardware and the devices that ultimately can be sent to cell phones for soldiers to, to generate value for our missions. So, you know, ha being able to come to a, a conference like this and have, have those people here that, that you can, um, you know, network and connect with, uh, is really valuable. And it really, you know, maximize is the time and the travel to, to be here and you get to see just so many great people. So, yes, it’s great to, you know, have this conference. I know that they had to postpone it a couple times, and it’s great to be able to just connect with people
Scott Luton (20:23):
Again. So yes. It’s like a big family here. Yeah. Yeah. Big family friendly neighbors. Yeah. For sure. Good friends, lots of support, especially for very worthy calls is like, y’all all right. So let’s talk for a second. As we start to wind down our interview, how can our listeners support what you do?
Rob Bergquist (20:40):
Yeah. So there, there’s several ways. If you, if you just wanna donate your cell phones, you can do that. You can go onto our website, uh, www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com and on our website, you can, uh, find dropoff locations. Again, we have over 3000 dropoff locations across street, across the country, small businesses, police stations, libraries, where you can go in, drop off your old phone. Um, and those drop off locations will phones on our behalf and send them to our facility. Uh, you can also go onto our website. You can ship the phones directly to our recycling facility. So if you want to make a donation, that’s a great way to do it. You can also sign up to become a drop off location. If, if there’s somebody listening that that has, uh, a lot of franchises or stores, you know, it’s a great way to get some unique foot traffic into your locations. It’s a great to connect with your community. And again, you’re asking for, you know, cell phones, you’re not necessarily asking for money. So
Scott Luton (21:32):
Everybody’s got one of those these days,
Rob Bergquist (21:34):
Everybody’s got an old phone, right. You know, so, uh, we’ll put you onto our website. You can plug in your zip code. People can find your location in the community, and then, you know, they’ll come in and drop off their phone. So you can sign up to become a drop off location. You can set up a, so if you wanted to just, you know, not become a drop off location, but just host a, a collection drive, maybe alongside some type of initiative that people already have going with their community. That’s another great way. And, uh, yeah, so there’s, there’s a lot of different ways.
Scott Luton (22:01):
Talk to us about, do folks have to clear, you know, wipe their phones before they donate, or do y’all do that? How’s that
Rob Bergquist (22:08):
We have a capability to do it, but we ask that the donor does that before, uh, they, they donate the device, uh, to cell phones for soldiers. It makes it, it makes it far easier. Yeah,
Scott Luton (22:17):
That’s right. Okay. Fascinating, man. Yeah. I, I love 18 years. So as a fellow startup, uh, entrepreneur, I love that aspect of it. I love since of purpose and mission and really the beauty of problem meat solution hammer now. And, and, and, you know, again, deed’s not words and, and that’s exactly what y’all done for 18 years now. Yeah. In April.
Rob Bergquist (22:40):
Yeah. Thanks. And you know, it really is, it, it was a lot of trial and error, you know, we didn’t, we didn’t have a business plan. We didn’t really set out to do this. It just, just kind of happened. And, uh, it’s, it’s really a Testament to the American people that believed in, in my family and, and what we were trying to accomplish. It’s helped a lot of people. And so we’re very proud of that
Scott Luton (22:59):
400 million minutes. And you, you said it well, folks that can’t spend the holidays with their family, uh, folks, unfortunately, you know, is your service to speak to their, um, military member that may no longer be with us, all, all of these folks in need and need that connection. You’re helping the power. So I really admire what y’all are doing. Cell phones for soldiers.com is a URL. Make sure y’all check that out, but how else can folks connect with you, Rob?
Rob Bergquist (23:26):
Yeah. So on LinkedIn, Rob, Berquist, that’s a great way to reach me, but also, you know, through our website, we have an info@cellphonesforsoldiers.com, email, just shoot an email there. You can always call our office and I’m happy to, to talk and, and connect that way.
Scott Luton (23:40):
It is just that easy, Rob, thank you very much for what you do.
Rob Bergquist (23:43):
Thank you. Scott.
Scott Luton (23:44):
Love cell phones for soldiers, folks. Hey, if you’re looking for a new nonprofit to support, this is a wonderful one. Uh, and now based in Metro Atlanta, right? Yes, sir. All right. Go dogs. Go. So, uh, big, thanks to Rob. Berquist a co-founder again with cell phones for soldiers, y’all make sure or you check that out. Cell phones for soldiers.com. Thanks for joining me. Uh, folks tuned in hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I have. I’ll tell ya. Rob has, has done incredible work, supporting our, our dearly beloved better in community. So make sure you find a way to support him, whatever you do. If you enjoy this conversation, Hey, make sure you take action deeds to out words, just like Rob’s leading by example, Scott Luton’s signing off for now. Stay tuned for more coverage here at the reverse logistics association conference expo. Hey, 18th annual uh, little, little, uh, same thing with yeah. Yeah. 18 years of a track record for helping others. Hey, Scott Luton challenging you do good. Give forward. Be the change that’s needed. And with that said, we’ll see next time. Right back here at supply chain now. Thanks everybody.
Intro/Outro (24:54):
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Rob Bergquist co-Founded Cell Phones for Soldiers at the age of 12 years old. He continues to run the operation to collect used electronics to generate revenue to provide cost-free communication services to active duty military and Veterans. His passion is social entrepreneurship with a focus towards the military. Connect with Rob on LinkedIn.
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