Contact: Kimberly Serio
American Cellular Donation Organization
586-524-2399
kim@cellulardonation.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL CELL PHONE RECYCLING INITIATIVE BENEFITS
TEEN EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM AND THE ENVIRONMENT
ACDO teams up with SADD to launch exciting new venture

WARREN, MI, September 24, 2004 - American Cellular Donation Organization (ACDO) is pleased to announce a new, collaborative partnership with SADD, Inc. (Students Against Destructive Decisions) that has the potential of raising funds for thousands of SADD chapters across the country and protecting the environment through the recycling of used cellular phones.

"Our mission is to protect the environment by recycling used, outdated cellular phones while raising funds for a great cause," stated Vincent Serio, CEO and founder of ACDO. "Collaborating with SADD, the nation’s leading peer-to-peer youth education and prevention organization, is a win-win scenario. It’s an honor for ACDO to support SADD’s mission of empowering our nation’s youth to make positive choices, and through this program, students will be able to help conserve resources and protect the environment," added Serio. To celebrate the beginning of this partnership ACDO has given a generous donation to SADD, but it is just a start in the tremendous amount of money SADD will be able to accumulate.

Founded in 1981 as Students Against Driving Drunk, SADD has more than 10,000 chapters in middle schools, high schools, and colleges nationwide. In 1997, SADD’s mission expanded to provide students with the best prevention and intervention tools possible to deal not only with the issue of underage drinking, but also other drug use, impaired driving, and other destructive decisions. In this new partnership, SADD will encourage individual chapters to consider the revenue potential and positive environmental impact of cell phone donation drives. ACDO will provide all support materials for the drives, such as donation boxes, signs, posters, brochures, and shipping. As SADD’s exclusive cell phone recycling partner, ACDO will also help chapters coordinate their drives and offer suggestions to support a successful venture.

According to Serio, a typical cell phone donation drive will last about 90 days, with the donated phones turned into charitable cash according to their current market value. All proceeds from the donated phones will be directed back to the SADD chapter running the drive. "The components of non-working or obsolete cell phones will be recycled so they don’t end up in landfills, where their toxic makeup could prove harmful to the environment," added Serio.

Penny Wells, SADD’s President and Executive Director, is enthusiastic about the program’s potential benefit for all SADD chapters that choose to participate. "SADD chapters are eager for creative and constructive ways to raise funds to run their local prevention and awareness activities in an effort to educate fellow students about the dangers of underage drinking, impaired driving, teen violence, depression and suicide. Recycling used cell phones promotes positive values while offering young people the support they need to make a difference in their schools and in their communities," added Wells. This program also lends itself to creating important alliances with local businesses, civic groups, and others interested in teen health and safety who might wish to participate in supplemental drives to benefit their local SADD chapter.

Those interested in finding out more about cell phone donation drives as fund-raisers for their organizations, or who want more information about how to donate phones to support SADD, are urged to call ACDO's Program Coordinator, Kim Serio, at 586-524-2399 or e-mail her at kim@cellulardonation.org.

SADD, Inc. sponsors peer-to-peer education and prevention programs in middle schools and high schools nationwide. For more information about SADD, visit www.sadd.org.

Michigan-based American Cellular Donation Organization is dedicated to helping charities raise funds through used cell phone drives. For more information about ACDO, visit www.cellulardonation.org

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