Tips for collecting phones

Re: laptops and towers cannot be accepted in lieu of phones.
 
Gathered from the experiences of those who have been collecting:
 
Start knocking on doors and asking neighbours, if you are very friendly with them ask them to ask their family members and work colleagues
 
Build up a network of people who will ask their friends and family FOR you, the phones fly in that way!
 
Make up a little note to drop into the letterboxes of people you don't know and tell them you will come back two days later. This is what I wrote in my note for letterbox drops:
 
"Dear House Owner,
 
My son attends a preschool/school for children with autism in xxxx The school is currently recycling old mobile phones through Irish Autism Action to get an iPad to use as a teaching tool with the children in the school. They need 185 phones to achieve this. If you had any unused or damaged mobile phones, and are willing to help the school with their collection, it would be greatly appreciated.
 
I will call in two days to collect the envelope. Thanks in advance."
 
Ask shops to put boxes out for you (you can stick an envelope to the front of it) and collect them from the shop every week, also ask your local Post Office, they are good for stuff like this
 
Get onto your local support groups and ask them to help you out
 
if you have a community newsletter see about getting an ad in there and a box into your community centre.............
 
Jackie asked 96FM in Cork to announce it for her and she got 23 phones from people listening to the show so email your local radio station and ASK, worst they can do is say no and maybe the staff in the station will have a whip around for phones
 
If any of you have friends/husbands/wives/family members working in companies ask them to get onto the IT dept and see if any of the old staff phones are knocking around broken. Most companies give staff on the road (or higher ups) mobile phones..............
 
Phones from abroad are accepted so get onto friends and family and ask them to collect and post it over to you, just tell them to seal the ends of the batteries with sellotape and pack them seperately from the phones.
 
Hold a coffee morning for your neighbours/friends/family/work colleagues and ask that 'payment' be a mobile phone, and that there will be a prize for the person who brings the most phones!! (buy a nice candle, always a great gift!!)
 
If you are a member on Rollercoaster, Magic Mum etc post up details and ask for help there.
 
If you are a member of ANY club or if your children are a member of any sporting clubs/after school classes ask the instructor in the group if he/she can give out envelopes to the children to bring home. Tell the children the phones have to be back by the next class...........children will nag their parents for a phone to bring back, they will!!
 
Schools are opening this week, if the school is not taking part in the initiative themselves then ask them to help YOU.
 
If you are feeling particularly inspired then try something like this, or adapt it to suit your own interests/contacts
 
http://irishautismaction.blogspot.com/2011/08/ballroom-dancing-meets-mobile-phones.html
 
Remember, Christmas is coming up soon (sorry, I know, second time in the same post) but a LOT of people get new phones for Christmas so make sure that people who have already given you phones know that you will be collecting on an ongoing basis and not to forget you.
 
One group of parents is have a 'cake sale for mobile phones' at the end of October, where people can get homemade goodies in exchange for mobile phones!
 
Another parent has organised a raffle. She made up a basket and when she gets X number of phones she will raffle the basket off!
 
Please add any tips into the comments and I will add them here.
 
Good luck everyone and remember ASK ASK ASK!! But remember, you have to keep asking. Lots of people promise, and they do mean it, but they forget. Try to pin them down as quickly as you can so that you don't feel like you are nagging people.
 
Jen