Cell phone drive to aid domestic violence victims

THE GFWC Woman’s Citizenship Club and the Alamosa Senior Citizens Center are teaming up with Secure the Call to collect old and unused cell phones to help domestic violence vicitims.

For 19 years, Secure the Call has been collecting and redistributing old and unused cell phones to more than 200 organizations across the country dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence. According to Secure the Call, each day more than 20,000 phone calls are placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide and more than 400,000 phones are discarded in the United States every day.

To date, Secure the Call has distributed more than 40,000 devices to domestic violence service organizations. Secure the Call goes to great lengths to wipe out the information on every device the organization receives. For more information about how this is done, visit the Secure the Call website.

“I would venture to say that most people have old cell phones tucked away in their desk drawers because we don’t know where to get them recycled.” said Theresa Rudder, coordinator of this project. “The Woman’s Citizenship Club members are excited to bring this opportunity to Alamosa and with the help of Lynette Cotton and the Senior Citizens Center, folks can bring their old phones to the center and drop them into the Secure the Call collection barrel.”

The Senior Citizens Center is located at 97 Colorado Avenue in Alamosa. The barrel will be available until the end of February.

Domestic violence awareness and prevention is the signature project of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, of which Woman’s Citizenship Club is a member. For more information, contact Theresa Rudder at 719-588-7913.