Your Diocese

ROMEOVILLE, IL — Students and faculty members of Lansdale Catholic High School in Lansdale, Pa., recently answered the call to help seniors, collecting more than 400 cell phones. The notion of assisting the elderly by providing them with the means for emergency communication “absolutely” fits the Catholic Christian mission of the East Coast school, said Mary Lou Graham, moderator of the school’s Community Service Corps. “It was so wonderful,” she said, describing the spring project. “It worked out really well.”

After the school-wide collection, the telephones were dispatched to the headquarters of Phones for Life in La Crescenta, Calif. Organization spokesperson Brian Watkins explained the agency provides free cell phone services for seniors, people with debilitating conditions and domestic violence victims. “This really provides seniors with a sense of security outside their homes.”

Watkins said a New York City emergency room physician, Dr. Dee L’ Archeveque, created the non-profit organization in the late 1990s when she began offering free used cell phones to domestic violence victims to help safeguard their lives in the event of an attack. She later realized that senior citizens could also benefit from the service, he said.

Many seniors don’t utilize this readily available technology, Watkins pointed out, emphasizing that people who become physically ill or injured on the streets could easily call for help with cell phones. They could also use their telephones to call for rides, he added.

The organization’s standard service provides recipients with free access to 911 emergency services without membership in any commercial cell phone provider or program, said Watkins.

Another service provides clients with 100 free airtime minutes for use during crisis situations. The telephone numbers of doctors and relatives of clients as well as nearby emergency service facilities are programmed into the telephones before the devices are shipped, Watkins said. This particular feature enables a recipient to place a call to a particular contact, medical service or 911 operator at the touch of a single button, he said.

The telephones with free minutes are intended for emergencies, but clients can make and receive personal calls with them as well. If recipients make use of all the free minutes, they have the option of purchasing additional units of time, Watkins said. On the other hand, if the clients opt not to purchase more minutes, they can still employ the gadgets as “911 only” telephones, he explained. Meanwhile, he made assurances that Phones for Life clients would “never” be solicited to add additional minutes because cell phone providers and other retailers aren’t privy to any personal information about the recipients.

All models are “senior friendly,” Watkins said. He explained that the telephones are simple in design with large buttons—easy-to-read and activate. Members of his organization have also designed special owners manuals to help clients learn the basics of the technology. Battery charging units are also included in the package, he added.

Interested individuals can apply for the cell phones online at the organization’s Web site, www.phones4life.org. Applicants without Internet access are encouraged to call the representatives of the organization for direct assistance at 818-236-2704. Seniors over the age of 60, adults with serious disabilities and victims of domestic violence meet the criteria for obtaining the telephones. “There are no income guidelines,” said Watkins. “Our goal is to get these phones into seniors’ hands everywhere.” The clients typically receive the telephones about five weeks after applying for the free service, he added.

Since the inception of Phones for Life, the representatives of the organization have dispersed more than 100,000 telephones across the country, said Watkins.

Meanwhile, the organization relies totally on cell phone donations from individuals and encourages participation among corporations, schools and other public and private institutions. Donations range from simple models to state-of-the-art camera phones. Upon receiving the donations, representatives of Phones for Life trade the discarded telephones for the same amount of basic models from cell phone recyclers. These models are ultimately forwarded to clients of the organization, Watkins said, describing the overall process.

Onsite cell phone drives have become lucrative fund-raising vehicles for many schools throughout the nation, said Watkins. Through an arrangement with Phones for Life, the cell phone recycling companies award the schools with the exact dollar amounts for their donated telephones. These profits are often earmarked for playground equipment, computers and other items, he said.

Senior service agencies and other organizations operate sites for people to discard their unwanted cell phones in towns and cities throughout California, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Watkins said the organization has the resources to handle donations from across the country.

Contributors could also mail their donations to the Phones for Life headquarters. People “can donate virtually,” Watkins said, explaining that interested donors could visit the organization’s Web site and request postage-paid envelopes to make the transaction. “We’re always looking for more donations.”