Secure the Call

Goliad, Texas may be small, but it is the third oldest municipality in the state and is literally drenched in history stretching back almost five hundred years. Founded in the 16^th century by the Spaniards as Santa Dorotea it became Goliad on February 4, 1829. Today’s Goliad County has 1,000 square miles and only 7,000 citizens.

Like many rural communities nationwide, Goliad struggles with an aging population. The  hoping to prevent younger people from bolting to more exciting environments thought to be found in Dallas or Houston. Eighteen percent of Goliad’s population is over 65 compared with 10% statewide.

As the head law enforcement officer in the County, Sheriff Robert DeLaGarza and his head deputy William J. “Bill” Schaefer oversee the usual duties of a Sheriff’s department and still find time and resources to pursue special programs such as D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and G.R.E.A.T. (Gang Resistance Education and Training)

Beyond that, they’re vitally concerned with the welfare of the growing population of Seniors within the County, taking responsibility for providing each resident in need with a free working 911 access cell phone and charger. The first distribution was at the Senior Citizens Center in early April, attended by Sheriff DeLaGarza and Chief Deputy Schaefer. A follow-up program is planned at the La Bahia Adult Day Care center.

Secure the Call wishes to thank and recognize the efforts of Chief Deputy Schaefer as the head of the program. As our first Community Partner to distribute phones in Texas, we are proud to be associated with him and the Sheriff’s Department of Goliad.

Several months ago, several of the cell phone carriers discontinued supporting the older “analog” cell phones that been around for the past 15 years.  If you have one of these phones, you’re going to have to get an updated phone to replace the 911 phone you have now.

It’s simple to find out if your phone works.  From your cell phone, dial 611 and then hit the send button.  If the phone number you’re calling starts ringing, you can hang up.  Your phone works!  There’s no need to stay on the line and wait for someone to answer the phone (call 611 connects you with the cell phone carrier and is always a free call).   If it rings to 611, it’ll ring to 911. 

If you don’t hearing the phone ringing, your phone no longer works.  If this happens to you, don’t worry.  We’re working with a great organization called Secure the Call, which supplies us with 911 cell phones that works and is always free for you to use.  Let us know if you need a new phone. 

In addition to our interest in recycling old cell phones to redistribute to the community, we like finding other ways to preserve our resources, for example by using power strips.  On average, using a power strip for TVs and stereos  can save the energy equivalent of a 100-watt light bulb that is always on.  This small change can help to preserve valuable resources, as well as save consumers money.

A typical 150-watt computer consumes approximately 876 kilowatt hours per year, totally about $87.60 per year before taxes and fees!  Using a power strip for large appliances, such as computers, washers, dryers, and refrigerators can drastically reduce energy costs.  Even devices that are in “standby” mode, such as computers, still consume energy if plugged-in.  One way to reduce this type of wasted energy is to utilize a power strip, which could cut energy costs by up to $10 per month.  This simple solution helps to preserve valuable resources, as well as safe money.   

Location, Location, Location.  Two months ago, a bank in North Carolina that permanently hosts our barrel moved their collection bin from a remote corner where very few of their customers knew it was there to a nice spot in the bank where you had to see it if you stood in the teller line.  The difference was remarkable.  For the past two years that they’ve been collecting for us, the barrel would fill up every three to four months.  Now, it’s filling up every six weeks.  

It turns out; they only moved the barrel less than ten feet.  But what a difference ten feet can make.  We love every company and organization that helps us collect the phones we need for our program.  And we’re grateful for all the work you do for Secure the Call.  As an all-volunteer organization, we rely solely on the generosity of the community for everything we do.  We would never tell anyone where to place their barrel.  That’s always up to you.  But as in real estate – Location, Location, Location.  

Transwestern, a privately held, national commercial real estate firm has volunteered to help Secure the Call by holding a one-month drive at over 75 office buildings that they manage in the cities of Chicago and Washington, DC.  In partnership with Wasteless Environmental, the nations largest waste reduction consulting firm and ???, a ????, Secure the Call will be providing collection barrels with customized signs in most of their buildings located in two of the biggest office markets in the country.  Our thanks to Robert Durrell and Stan Smith for pushing this to completion at their firms.  

Luckily for Secure the Call, both Transwestern and Wasteless Environmental are national organizations with offices located throughout the United States and Canada.  Hopefully, this will be the start of beautiful relationship and will lead to collection drives at big office buildings everywhere.  As a collection site, large office buildings do very well for us.  Last week, a building in Dallas held a similar drive and in a little over four weeks collected over 75 phones!

To get a collection barrel for your building, give us a call.  You can use our generic sign for the barrel or we can customize a sign for your company. 

All of us at Secure the Call are proud to announce the launch of our new website, which will give us more opportunities to connect with the community and help those who are in need. You can also subscribe to our email newsletter, which will keep you up-to-date with what’s going on at Secure the Call.