The Tofield, Ryley and Area (TRA) Food Bank and the Tofield/Beaver County West Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) have partnered together to begin a cell phone collection program, which will be donated to the Camrose Women’s Shelter.
“I got the idea because my Red Hat group has been doing this for a long time. One of the first things that the abusers do is either take the phones away or cancel the phone contracts, so that the victims don’t have access. What we do is supply phones that have been cleaned out, no SIM card, but they’re able to charge them, and even if they don’t have a plan, they can still call 911,” said TRA food bank Board Chair Dawn Arnold.
Arnold says if the phone still charges and is functional, it can be donated to the program.
“As long as it can be charged and it works, there are no parameters. I’ve got an old flip phone that I’ll be delivering next week and a couple of old cell phones that still work for 911.
They are an emergency phone. If they want to start a quick contract, start their own plan, they’re good for that, too. They are used as intermediate phones until the women can get their own,” she said.
The program is set to run in perpetuity, so there will be no end date or donation cutoff.
“There is no deadline for these. We just wish to be a collection point for these phones as they are so very necessary for many in the shelter. If you have the charging cable for your donated phone, that would be super too,” said a post on the TRA food bank social media page.
Phones can be dropped off at the Food Bank or the Tofield FCSS office.
Kari Janzen
Staff Reporter
