When Ajay Kapoor thought of collecting old mobile phones for Starship Children’s Hospital, he was sceptical of community response.
But the Otahuhu Branch Manager of Barfoot & Thompson was overwhelmed with more than 400 mobile handsets which he was able to collect in and around Highland Park (East Auckland) alone.
“Starship has been collecting old mobile phones for the past few years and I did not think that there would still be many left. I was surprised at the number of handsets received; some businesses donated up to 30 phones because they were upgrading to new technology. I am sure that there are still many more,” Mr Kapoor said.
Mammoth effort
During the past five years, Starship Foundation has collected more than 650,000 old mobile phones and generated more than $2 million for the Starship National Air Ambulance Service.
Mr Kapoor visited Pakuranga Heights School and Bucklands Beach Intermediate School along with ‘Captain Starship,’ hosted a pizza lunch for the students and encouraged them to look for used and even unusable mobile phones and donate them for the noble cause. Less than two weeks later, the two schools sent more than 300 used handsets.
“It was great fun assisting Starship and giving something back to the community. Donating an unwanted mobile phone can be rewarding and makes a difference to an important health service,” Mr Kapoor said.
Help needed
The donated mobile phones, which still have a useful life, are refurbished and resold into developing countries. Phones can be donated at the office of Barfoot & Thompson in Highland Park (Corner Pakuranga Road and Dunrobin Place) and in Otahuhu (323 Great South Road).
Website: www.starship.org.nz
