Enriching lives thru the Power of Social Media

Ah, the Twitter…

A place to connect, to find links to interesting topics and people.

A place to be completely random and ridiculous in 140 characters or less.

Which is exactly what I was doing on Tuesday evening after the release of Apple’s newest form of electronic crack, the iPhone 4S, when I tweeted:

I was really just being a smart ass. Just another service I offer on a daily basis. But then something unexpected happened. Someone suggested a much better alternative to throwing my abandoned phones into my overflowing junk drawer:

Sandra later sent me a link to the National Coalition against Domestic Violence, who have a program which can put your old phone to good use:

NCADV is recycling cell phones to:
• Fund programming that empowers victims of domestic violence and helps them remain free from abuse
• Support legislation aimed at ending domestic violence
• Give support and resources to organizations across the US working to stop violence in the home

How It Works:
• Roughly 60 percent of cell phones will be refurbished and resold
• The revenue generated from the sale of refurbished phones will be used to support NCADV programs that help end violence in the home
• The remaining cell phones are recycled according to the highest environmental standards

My discarded phones (and yours) can be put to much better use than just taking up space in a junk drawer. They could save a life. I don’t know about you, but that’s worth giving up an overpriced coffee beverage for a day to pay for postage.

Still on the fence about it? Maybe these statistics will help you decide:

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence:

One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.

An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.

85% of domestic violence victims are women.

Historically, females have been most often victimized by someone they knew.

Most cases of domestic violence are never reported to the police.

If you’d like to help, you can get all the details here.

Get rid of something you no longer need and help someone else in the process. Sounds like a win-win to me.