Cracked, scratched and beaten-up cell phones need not disappear to the far corners of your room anymore. Starting Monday, those discarded devices can serve a higher purpose when donated to the Center for Inter-Community Experience’s (ICE) cell phone drive.
In an effort to raise money for the program, ICE will be setting up cardboard receptacles around campus for students, faculty and staff to deposit their old cell phones. From there, the cell phones will be sent to a recycling company in Oklahoma that will give ICE money in exchange for the donations – anywhere from $0.50 to $5 per phone.
“This is perfect for students here,” junior Morgan Paisley said. “I know I personally have an old cell phone from when I studied abroad in England and another broken one that has just been sitting in my desk for months.”
The 17-year-old ICE program, started by former student Chris Lake, combines academic courses taught on campus and community service in low-income, multi-ethnic neighborhoods in East Dallas. Students supplement their coursework with three hours per week worth of “enrichment activities” off campus.
During his time at SMU, Lake interned for Habitat for Humanity and connected with the children and the neighborhood, according to ICE Director and English professor Dr. Bruce Levy.
“He came back to campus and talked to some professors and administrators and said ‘Look, we have an SMU-in-London program and a SMU-in-Paris program, but on some level we really don’t have an SMU-in-Dallas program,'” Levy said.
Today, ICE works to enhance the lives of underprivileged children and their families, but also introduces students to a different side of Dallas, a side apart from the bustling bars and popular restaurants.
“Students obviously know Greenville Avenue, but they rarely go down far enough to where these kids live,” Levy said.
Down Greenville Avenue, past Sidebar and Public House, barely four miles from campus in the neighborhood of Garrett Park East, stands the ICE House – a modest one-story residence that has become the backbone of the program. Four SMU students currently live at the house, tutoring and mentoring neighborhood children and hosting community events.
For students involved with the program, it’s a life-changing experience. Levy said many students “find their calling” once they are exposed to life on lower Greenville.
Junior Diana Garcia is one such student. The CCPA major said she joined the ICE program as a way to get acquainted with non-profit organizations.
“I loved the idea of working with kids in hopes that they will aspire to go to college after high school,” Garcia said.
However, Levy said one of the largest obstacles the program faces is grabbing the attention of SMU students. Of the approximately 6,200 undergraduates here, only about 200 students enroll in ICE courses each year.
Another issue for ICE, like many non-profit organizations, is funding. The program receives no financial support from the university, relying solely on donations from other organizations and individuals, along with the revenue created from events like the cell phone drive.
“It would be nice to have more of a budget to be able to do more things for the kids,” junior Gina Argueta, one of the student residents at the ICE house, said.
Likewise, all involved in the program hope the cell phone drive, which will run through March 7, will generate the necessary funds to keep their impact in East Dallas strong.
“These kids [in East Dallas] are turning out OK,” Levy said. “I mean, they’re not setting the world on fire, but they’re also not setting anything else on fire. The fact that they beat back a lot of odds shows they’re living productive lives.”
