The Recorder, Amsterdam, N.Y.

LOCAL

Wednesday, December 23, 2015 / 3

Donated cell phones will help

troops call home for holidays

Photo submitted

Canajoharie High School sophomore Griffin Collins makes a card

for Sa'fyre Terry with the assistance of sophomores Jocelyn
Hammons and Meghan Dingman. The schools STAR program set
up tables in the cafeteria during lunch for students to make cards.

CHS students make cards

for girl who survived fire
CANAJOHARIE

Canajoharie High School students made more than 100

Christmas cards to help make a
happy holiday for a little girl in
Schenectady.
Sa'fyre Terry was the only survivor of a house fire in 2013 that
claimed the lives of three of her
siblings and her father. She also
suffered several severe burns and
complications. This year, Sa'fyre
said her Christmas wish was
Christmas cards enough to fill

the card tree in her home. Her

Christmas wish was reported by
news outlets and since then cards
have been coming in from around
the world.
Canajoharie High Schools
Student-Teacher Activity Rally
(STAR) program organized an
effort to help make cards for
Sa'fyre. Students made the cards
during lunch and put them in the
mail in time for them to get to
Sa'fyre by Christmas.

B-PHS Green Club to host

Christmas tree recycling event
Green Club members from Broadalbin-Perth High School will be
host a tree recycling event on Sunday, Jan. 3 from noon to 3 p.m. at
the high school campus near the outdoor basketball courts.
Students from Green Club have been working on an environmental
contest called the Lexus Eco Challenge. Students have educated the
community on how getting a real tree during the holiday season is
more eco-friendly than a fake.
Students wanted to take the project even further and give people an
option of something to do with their trees beside it taking up space in
the landfill. Students, with the help of building and grounds supervisor Mike Carney and teacher advisor Sarah Webster, will chip the
trees and use them for the school's nature trai, originally designed by
student Andrew Meashaw. For more information, email Sarah
Webster at websters@bpcsd.org

Albany Sen. George

Amedore and AT&T announced
Tuesday that the community has
helped collect more than 1,800
gently-used mobile devices over
the past month that will be donated to Cell Phones For Soldiers.
By donating these cell phones
and mobile devices to Cell
Phones For Soldiers, this joint
effort by Senator Amedore,
AT&T and the community will
be able to provide our troops and
injured veterans with more than
81,000 minutes of free calls to
their loved ones back home.
Proceeds from the recycled
devices will be used to buy long
distance calling cards for troops
abroad and veterans at home.
The collection drive which
began Nov 20 and lasted until
Dec. 20 spanned Amedores
district, where the public was
able to drop off any used mobile
devices at collection bins in
AT&T stores throughout the
region, as well as more than 15
public locations.
For every donated phone valued
at just $5, Cell Phones For
Soldiers is able to provide 2
hours of free talk time to
deployed troops through calling
cards.
I want to thank the residents of
the 46th Senate district who contributed to the Cell Phones for
Soldiers drive, and our community partners who offered their facilities as drop off locations,
Amedore said. I can think of no
better gift this holiday season than
to help the brave men and women
who are serving our nation stay
connected to their loved ones back
home. Their holidays will be a bit
brighter thanks to the generosity
of residents from all over the district who donated an old or
unwanted cell phone.
Cell Phones For Soldiers was
founded in 2004 by teenagers
Robbie and Brittany Bergquist at
the ages of 12 and 13, after they
heard the story of a local soldier
with a cell phone bill that totaled
nearly $8,000. They decided to
help this one man with just $21
of their own money and Cell
Phones For Soldiers was born
from there.

Photo submitted

Sen. George Amedore, left, Ed Bergstraesser, regional director of

External Affairs for AT&T, and Amy Kramer, executive director of
External Affairs for AT&T announced that more than 1,800 cell
phones were donated from throughout the 46th Senate District
through the Cell Phones for Soldiers drive.

The charity has since provided

more than 216 million minutes of
free talk time to servicemen and
women stationed around the
world through its calling card
program, Minutes That Matter.
Funds raised from the recycling
of cellular phones are used to
purchase prepaid international
calling cards. On average, Cell
Phones For Soldiers distributes
1,500 calling cards each week to
bases around the world, care
package programs, deployment
ceremonies and VA hospitals.
At AT&T we provide solutions
to better connect the world, but
nothing brings us more pride and
joy than being able to connect
our active military and veterans
with their loved ones, especially
during the holidays, Marissa
Shorenstein,
New
York
President, AT&T, said.
I
applaud Senator Amedore for
leading this community collection drive with AT&T and I thank
everyone that donated a mobile
device. Their generosity will
make the holidays more enjoyable for some of Americas
bravest men and women and their
families.
Since 2004, more than 11.7 mil-

lion phones have been recycled

or repurposed. Approximately
half of the phones processed are
reconditioned and reused. Phones
and components that cannot be
refurbished are dismantled and
responsibly recycled to reclaim
materials, including gold, silver
and platinum from circuit boards,
copper wiring from phone chargers and nickel, iron, cadmium
and lead from battery packs.
AT&Ts ongoing support of
Cell Phones For Soldiers stems
from the companys longstanding
mission to connect members of
the nation's military and veterans
with their loved ones back home.
AT&T has proudly supported
Cell Phones For Soldiers
Helping Heroes Home initiative, a program designed to provide emergency funds for returning veterans to alleviate communication challenges as well as
physical, emotional and assimilation hardships. Additionally,
AT&T and its customers have
donated more than $4.6 million
and distributed more than
600,000 AT&T prepaid calling
cards to service men and women
overseas since 2007.

HFM Boces offers skill development for adult learners

HFM BOCES will provide
screening and orientations for
adult learners who need skill
development or high school
equivalency
classes.
Programming is held at the
Amsterdam and Gloversville
Literacy Zones.
Screenings and orientations
are two day events. Potential
students must attend both days
of the sessions, arrive on time
and be prepared to stay for the
full three (3) hours each day.
The Amsterdam Literacy
Zone, located within the United
Presbyterian Church at 25
Church St. Amsterdam, will
hold two screening sessions on
Monday, Jan. 4 and Wednesday,
Jan. 6. The morning session is
from 9 a.m. to noon. The
evening session is from 6 to 9
p.m. Attendees should park in
the lot on the upper level and
use the entrance available on the
second level.
The Gloversville Literacy
Zone, 43-47 North Main St.,
Gloversville, will hold screen-

ing and orientation Monday,

Jan. 4 and Wednesday Jan. 6.
The morning session will be
held from 9 a.m. to noon. The
evening session will be held
from 6 to 9 p.m. A third session
in Gloversville will be held
Tuesday, Jan. 5 and Thursday,
Jan. 7, from noon to 3 p.m. each
day.
During orientation, students
will learn about the program,
complete registration paperwork, and participate in reading,
writing and math assessments.
Students must bring something
to write with, a notebook, and
both an original of a picture ID
with birth date and a photocopy
of that ID.
Skill development classes will
help adult learners improve
reading, writing and math skills.
Students must be able to read,
write and compute at no less
than a fifth-grade level. High
school equivalency classes prepare adults for success on the
Test Assessing Secondary
Completion (TASC). Students

must read, write and compute at

a ninth-grade level. Screening
will include an assessment of
skills to determine placement in
class. Students will be required
to have or develop computer literacy skills. Portions of programming are provided through
online learning platforms. Class
assignments will be made based
on assessment results.
Individuals interested in
attending an orientation and
screening must call HFM
BOCES at 736-4340 to reserve a
seat. Callers should leave their
name, age, address, phone num-

ber, and indicate which location

and time they will attend. Voice
mail is available 24 hours a day.
This program is intended for
adults 21 and older. Learners
ages 18-20 will be admitted
based on an interview with the
teacher and as space and funding are available. Classes
offered by HFM BOCES Adult

Literacy are possible through

funding from the New York
State Education Department.
The office of Adult Literacy &
Corrections Education shares
timely
information
on
Facebook: Amsterdam Literacy
Zone, Gloversville Literacy
Zone and HFM Adult Literacy
& Corrections Education.

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