Transition House wants your old phone

By Cecilia Nasmith

One change COVID-19 brought to the community was the shifting of so many services to the on-line world.

For the population served by Transition House, this proved a major difficulty. But Executive Director Anne Newman is bringing technology to her clients – and an important part of this initiative is her appeal to members of the community for old cell phones they no longer use but which are still in working condition.

“One of the things that are a real challenge for our clients is staying connected because, in the pandemic, a lot of services have gone virtual,” Newman said in a recent interview.

“In order to connect – even to a physician or a walk-in clinic – you need technology. But it's expensive.”

Newman did find funds in her budget, back at the beginning of the pandemic, to purchase a few cell phones. But she decided it would be more cost-effective (and more environmentally friendly) to ask for donations of this vital equipment.

“Like so many people, some of my family are getting new phones all the time and have these old phones lying around,” she said.

Part of the expense when purchasing a new phone is often a new contract, and this too is something beyond her client's financial means. But they can certainly turn on the phones and connect into a Wifi connection. There's one at Transition House, as well as in quite a few public buildings.

There are also ways they can make telephone calls through such channels as downloading What's App and Facebook Messenger. Or if they get an iPhone, there's always iMessage.

“There are ways around it, if you just get a Wifi connection,” she said.

It's not exactly ideal, Newman allowed, but it is so much better than having no phone.

And in cases where clients transition to housing of their own, she added, this program will help at a time when affording a phone – much less an internet or Wifi connection - may be beyond their means.

This is an important step in bringing technology into the lives of those who have difficulty affording it. So is the purchase of iPads that has been going on. Armed with an iPad, a staffer can access whatever a client may need – like a virtual doctor's appointment at northumberlandcare.com. But the phones take it a step further.

“It's the same thing as food security – it's not giving you the fish, it's teaching you to fish. We are teaching them to use this technology. Take your phone, head over to the mall and find ways to use it,” Newman said.

Anyone who has a cell phone to donate is encouraged to call Transition House at 905-376-9562 and arrange to drop it off at 10 Chapel St., Cobourg.