BEDMINSTER, N.J.-Bell Atlantic Mobile has launched an initiative to collect unused wireless phones from its customers and reprogram the handsets for emergency calls by community-based public-safety groups in Delaware, southern New Jersey and the greater Philadelphia area.
“The evolution of wireless phones from analog to digital and the appeal of newer, smaller handsets have produced a large supply of old, unused equipment sitting in desks, cabinets and even toy boxes throughout the area,” said John Stratton, president of BAM’s Tri-State Region, headquartered in Trevose, Penn.
“Our objective is to reclaim those phones and put them into the hands of people who need emergency communications.”
Bell Atlantic Mobile will reprogram donated phones to dial 911 at the touch of a button, then give the handsets to nonprofit groups that help people and communities improve security and emergency communications.
The carrier launched a pilot of the program in May in partnership with the Camden County, N.J., Board of Chosen Freeholders, which has targeted senior citizens and the disabled as priority recipients of the revamped handsets.
Phone donors receive a receipt they can use for a charitable donation tax deduction.
