In the age of rapidly evolving technologies, old cell phones might be useless devices that outlived the fashion, but some people say they could be tools to save lives.
The Washington, D.C.-based Wireless Foundation kicked off this year's Call to Protect campaign to help victims of domestic violence, with a Michigan senator and local businesses participating in the Lansing area.
During the campaign, which continues through the end of this year, the group collects cell phones and modifies them for emergency use only.
The phones are donated to domestic violence and abuse victims.
"Everybody updates their phones," said Erin McGee, spokeswoman for the Wireless Foundation.
"What we need individuals to do is go find old phones and donate them to us," she said. "They are of no further use to you, but they can be lifelines to other people."
The phones will be reprogrammed to be used to make calls to 911 and shelters only, and the phone users won't be charged for the calls, she said. Some of the collected phones are also refurbished and sold, and the money goes to shelters and groups for the victims, she added.
People can drop off their old phones at local businesses such as Big Kmart, Coastal Communications and Ace Hardware, as well as the office of Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Howell.
The senator's office has been participating in the campaign since 2000 when they learned about the program through a cell phone company.
The office collected more than 350 used cellular phones last year, and expects to collect 400 phones this year, said Karen Heath, a spokeswoman for Garcia .
"With the overwhelming support of the community, we think it's being beneficial to the community," Heath said.
"It'll enable them to call 911 when they don't have any other ways of access to the authorities," she said. "It's an automatic connection to the authorities."
She added the phones are donated not just to women victims of domestic violence, but to anyone, including senior citizens, who could be in danger but have no access to the authorities.
To have immediate access to the authorities is extremely important for people in unsafe situations, said Debi Cain, executive director of the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board.
The Wireless Foundation began collecting used cell phones in 1996 in cooperation with Motorola and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
"It's a great program," McGee said. "It provides safety tools for them."
Apart from the nationwide campaign, a local group is also engaged in a similar endeavor on its own.
End Violence Encounter, or EVE, a shelter for domestic violence victims in Lansing, also collects old cellular phones for the same purpose.
"It'll help to protect (victims) and keep them in safe in situations where they are away from home and not close to phones," said Staci Garcia, a spokeswoman for EVE.
