Women of the ELCA has teamed up with the Women’s Funding Network and the Good Deed Foundation to recycle 250,000 cell phones by May 1, 2009. Money raised through the recycling campaign will be used to—

• Support programs that lift women and families out of poverty;
• Help provide lasting solutions to climate change, a major contributor to poverty worldwide; and
• Provide 911 emergency phones to senior citizens and people at risk.
  

In the United States alone, more than half a billion cell phones are no longer being used and are ready for recycling, and another 11 million phones are added to that total every month.

Participation is easy and fun! Try these ideas:

• Visit the Women of the ELCA web page on the Good Deed website to recycle your old cell phones! Go to http://www.gooddeedfoundation.org/welca to request a postage-paid recycling envelope and collection boxes.
• Create a “team” challenge: Ask your congregational unit to put together teams and challenge each other to collect the most cell phones by May 1, 2009.
• Conduct cell phone recycling drives in your community. Place collection boxes in your church, local coffee shops, or community centers. Feature cell phone recycling at your events and ask local businesses to host a box. Collect from your neighbors. Reward success!
• Promote the campaign by including information about cell phone recycling in your newsletter, worship bulletins, and correspondence.
• Go viral! Add the Good Deed “widget” or link to your website, or the electronic signature to your emails, and send a Good Deed eCard to everyone in your address book! Find all of these resources at www.gooddeedfoundation.org/takeaction.

How simple actions translate into a better world
We encourage you to

• recycle cell phones through Good Deed
• buy supermarket products with the Good Deed logo

Each of the actions taken through Good Deed generates funds that can be used for—

• Training and education that build paths out of poverty
• New investments in women’s enterprise
• Elevated assets and financial literacy in the U.S. and abroad
• Better prospects for mothers, families, and children
• Projects for solving climate change, which is increasing poverty worldwide

With your support, Good Deed can turn simple acts into a major force for positive change.

Good Deed distributes a minimum of 90 percent of its profits after taxes to community organizations like the Women of the ELCA, working to dismantle poverty or seek solutions to climate change.

Good Deed supplies the collection box and pays the postage to have the filled box shipped by Fed Ex. If you would like to place a collection box in your church or somewhere in your community, order online at www.gooddeedfoundation.org. There is no charge for collection boxes.