A 911 Win-Win-Win: Donating Used Cell Phones to Seniors

Montgo Sheriff's Office Distributes Limited-Use Cell Phones to Seniors

At State Rep. Tim Brigg’s Senior Expo earlier this month, I had an opportunity to meet Deputy Sheriff David Cavaliere, who runs the Montgomery County Emergency Cellphone Project for Seniors.

The sheriff's department will distribute cell phones to any senior who makes a request by calling the Sheriff's Office at (610) 278-3335 or (610) 278-3331. These cell phones will only call 911, but they can call from anywhere in the country. You see, any used cell phone continues to dial 911 even after phone service with the carrier has been terminated.

Yet, one concern that prevents most people from donating a used cell phone is security. Today's phones store all kinds of private data, including phone numbers previously dialed, phone numbers from your contact list, passwords to emails, or even that photo you snapped of your children or parents. Anyone who gets his or her hands on your old phone could potentially access this information. The advantage of this program is that Deputy Sherriff Cavaliere will clear the phone of any such information before donating it to a senior. And once donated, the phone provides extra safety to the Montgomery County senior who receives it.

MSN News reports that the average cell phone user changes phones once every 18 months. In the United States, that amounts to 5 million discarded cell phones every month, and 80 percent of those end up in a landfill or in someone’s drawer. The old cell phones are an environmental hazard. This program puts that old cell phone to good use rather than adding rubbish to a landfill.

And the program is very easy. If you have a cell phone to donate, simply bring it to Rep. Brigg’s office or drop it off at any local police station.

I can imagine some readers expressing concern about police looking through your old cell phone. If that’s really a concern, then toss the phone into the wood chipper or crush it with your car. But 99 percent of us don’t do anything illegal and when you think about it, that used phone is probably safer with Deputy Sheriff Cavalier—who will clear all the data—than at the town dump where people sift through trash looking for information contained in discarded phones.

Hear the story from Cavaliere himself in the attached video. (I apologize that I may have forgotten to switch the recorder to the high definition mode—I'm not a professional newscaster, and I really want to thank Deputy Sheriff Cavaliere for being such a good sport and participating in an impromptu interview. He and the Montgo Sheriff are genuinely concerned for the seniors in Montgomery County, and so they want to spread the word however they can.

Stay well until my next post.

Editor's note: To donate used cell phones, use the same numbers as those used to request one: Call the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office at (610) 278-3335 or (610) 278-3331.