Secure the Call

Phone Drive Tip of the Month: The better the barrel location, the more phones we collect

admin — Sat, 26 May 2012 21:57:09 +0000

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 to host drives at 75 buildings in Chicago and DC!

admin — Sat, 26 May 2012 21:56:36 +0000

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.

Secure the Call launches new website!

admin — Sat, 26 May 2012 21:55:47 +0000

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.

EARTH DAY: Make it Meaningful!

admin — Sat, 26 May 2012 21:53:17 +0000

Yesterday was Earth Day, and as always, I stopped to take stock. I was slightly depressed because I heard Rush Limbaugh say that “even their strongest proponents agree they’ve had zero impact!” I doubt that the leaders of the environmental movement would agree, but it started me to thinking about Earth Day. Is it a truly important commemoration, or is it just a lot of hot air?

What really bothered me was that the Pennsylvania Primary was scheduled for the same day, and the media coverage of that event sucked all the air out of Earth Day publicity. The average guy scarcely knew it was happening.

To test this, last night I went to visit two neighbors—people I know pretty well but don’t really socialize with. I told them what Earth Day meant to me, and challenged them to make a “gift” to the Earth this next year. That way, when Earth Day rolled around they could feel good about it and perhaps make another gift.

I was in luck. Neighbor “A”, (named Jay), said he was thinking about getting rid of his Tahoe SUV and start driving a Prius. Did I think that would qualify as a “gift”? That’s a no-brainer. He would drive the same distance, but he’d get 40-50 miles/gallon better performance. Neighbor “B” (Paul) was a little more difficult. He asked for suggestions. I gave him the following list:

Plant a tree

Change you household lightbulbs to compact fluorescent as they burn out

Install new weather-stripping on your exterior doors

Set your thermostat up two degrees in the summer and down two degrees in the winter

…the list went on.

Paul thought about it and went beyond it. He was going to replace all his windows with energy efficient ones. (On the negative side, he “hated” the “curly” fluorescent light bulbs and wouldn’t commit to using them.)

I went to bed last night feeling better. Not because I felt like I’d made a difference, but because my neighbors reactions indicated that the message really IS getting across. Maybe we just need better PR!

Area police form coalition to collect used cell phones for emergency services

admin — Sat, 26 May 2012 14:53:16 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 4, 2003

Washington, D.C. – Police departments and sheriff’s offices from Maryland, Virginia and the District have formed a coalition to help collect cell phones to be converted into 911 emergency service phones.

The program is called Secure the Call and is being lead by a non-profit organization by the same name based in Greenbelt, Md. Government departments in these areas have been distributing emergency service phones to the public, but they have not been able to meet the demand. In most cases, these departments are not equipped to undertake the work necessary to convert the phones. Secure the Call
will be coordinating the collection effort and will be performing the work necessary on behalf of these departments.

Any used cell phone can be programmed to dial 911 even if it is not part of a wireless carrier’s network. Groups that need such phones include local police departments, neighborhood watch groups, senior citizen centers and domestic violence organizations.

Approximately 70 percent of the phones collected through the program will be donated to members of the coalition so that they may be given to the people that need them. The other 30 percent will be sold to the recycled phones market to pay for the reprogramming of the donated phones.

“Community policing works best when we have an active and engaged community that works closely with the police,” said D.C. Metro Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey. “Secure the Call will help make these partnerships happen.”

A website (www.givecellphones.com) is available with more information on Secure the Call. Secure the Call may also be contacted at (301) 891-2900 for more information.