“Does it spark joy?”
You’ve probably seen this question all over social media and television in the last few weeks. That’s because home-organization expert Marie Kondo’s new Netflix show, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” made a big splash over the New Year, challenging Americans to rethink their relationship to the objects in their home.
If something sparks joy—if it serves an important purpose or gives you a happy feeling when you use or see it—then it belongs in your life. But if it doesn’t, and it’s just taking up space in your house, it might contribute to clutter and the stress of being crowded by stuff. Kondo’s KonMari method, first shared in the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, doesn’t aim to sterilize and remove personality from homes, but instead, to make houses and apartments work better for the families who occupy them, and to provide comfort and peace.
And in that vein, we highly doubt that your old, unused cell phones, smart phones, tablets and mobile devices are sparking any joy for you as they collect dust in a closet or crowd your junk drawer. That’s where Cell Phones For Soldiers comes in.
You should never throw an old mobile phone or device in the trash. These devices are made with components that are valuable to recyclers, but harmful for the environment. At Cell Phones For Soldiers, we accept recycled devices of any age or condition, resell the valuable parts and buy calling cards for our troops so they can stay in touch with their friends and families, wherever they are in the world.
To date, we’ve stopped 15 million devices from reaching our landfills—keeping out those harmful metals and plastics—and given more than 300 million minutes of free talk time to our troops. We’ve also, through our program Helping Heroes Home, provided emergency aid for more than 3,000 veterans in need.
Your old devices may not spark joy for you, but they can certainly spark joy in the lives of our brave men and women in uniform. To learn more about how you can give your unwanted cell phones, smartphones and mobile devices to help our heroes, visit our donation page.
Cell Phones For Soldiers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
