Aaron graduated from Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg, KS), with a BBA in Finance. He has worked in the wireless technology industry since 1998. In 2002, while working for a wireless telecom company, Aaron noticed that cell phone consumers were replacing and/or upgrading their handsets more frequently, due to increased competition among wireless service providers as well as a decrease in the cost of cellular phones. As this trend grew, so did the stock pile of unwanted, used cell phones. Having a bit of a pack rat mentality, Aaron didn’t just want to discard these phones with the trash. Thus came to him the idea of building a cause marketing program.
Cause marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperation of a for profit business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. Working closely with a local non-profit group, Jason created a cell phone collection program for charity. In addition to the phones left behind by customers who upgraded, they also reached out to the public, seeking the donation of unwanted cellular devices. Utilizing key contacts in the industry, they were able to recycle these cell phones and generate charitable funds. As the program grew, they added a couple more local beneficiaries to their portfolio, as well as a supporting cast of local companies who would regularly donate their retired company cell phones. From 2002-2006, they steadily increased the amount of money raised per year and ultimately generated thousands of dollars for these charitable organizations.
After years of success at the local level, Aaron had a vision of working with a well established, national non-profit organization. In early January of 2007, his vision started to become reality. Now on his own, Aaron contacted his friend and now founding Cells For Cells partner, Jason Clements. Upon sharing my ideas and success stories with Jason, they both knew they could create a program that would help a lot of people in need. With Jason and Aaaron both losing a close family member to cancer, they wanted our program to benefit patients who are battling cancer. With the embrace of The Leukemia & Lymphoma, they officially launched the Cells For Cells program on January 29, 2007. |
