If this stat is to be believed, there are approximately 271 million cell customers in the United States. I’m assuming people with multiple accounts are being counted multiple times or else there are a lot of toddlers and elementary school children with cell phones.
Point being, though, one can only imagine how many people in the United States still have old cell phones, what with the number of new cell phones that manufacturers are putting out there. That means Verizon Wireles’ exclusive HopeLine program should have a lot more phones in its future.
The program, which turns no-longer-used phones into cash grants to support domestic violence victims, just reached a milestone of 6 million phones collected. That number translates to nearly $7 million in grants.
Any provider’s phones can be donated. Those that can be refurbished are sold for reuse, while those that can’t be salvaged will be recycled in an environmentally friendly way. The proceeds go toward cell phones and service for survivors of domestic violence along with financial grants for nonprofit domestic violence advocacy agencies.
I’d obviously prefer that there not even be a need for this, as in there not being any victims of domestic violence, but until that’s the case, this is a great way to help. You can find out more about the HopeLine program and how to donate here.
Logo courtesy of Verizon Wireless.