GW + Phones = Hope

A few weeks ago, my volleyball team and I, along with women’s swimming and men’s tennis, volunteered for the GW + Phones = Hope campaign, which has been collecting old cell phones as well as other electronic devices. The collected devices will be recycled, raising money for health developments in Nepal, Mali, and Malawi. This campaign was part of the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) that began last semester.

And so, on a Wednesday morning, my team and I woke up at 5:50am and began our day, since we had to report to the Foggy Bottom metro station by 6:30 to receive our volunteer assignments. Each volunteer was assigned to 1 of the 15 busiest Metro stations to supervise the collection boxes and hand out information to Metro riders. My team and I were assigned to the Chinatown metro stop and had quite a few donations. Granted, we did not get our first donation until about 8:30am, but after that, we got numerous cell phones, cameras, ipods, and laptops.  A lot of riders commented to us that they forgot that the collection was that particular morning but had wanted to donate.

Since this volunteering opportunity took place right during our practice time, we were not able to practice that morning, but it was a worthy cause and we were glad we could devote some of our time to help out.

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie