October is Domestic Violence Prevention Month, and students have the opportunity to contribute to the cause by donating used cell phones to help victims of domestic violence.
The phones are being collected by Elaine Baker, a member of the advisory board of Branches Domestic Violence Shelter and psychology professor at Marshall University, in conjunction with the Student Government Association.
"Any woman who comes to the shelter or has reason to be afraid can be given a phone and it can be used to call 911," Baker said.
Charged cell phones can be used to call 911 even without a service provider and broken phones or phones turned in without chargers can be recycled to provide funds for the shelter. There is a national organization which buys back the unusable phones and recycles them to the manufacturers.
"This is one of the best ways to get rid of these phones," Baker said.
Drop boxes will be placed across campus and throughout the community to collect the donated cell phones. On campus, the boxes will be located in the lobby of the Memorial Student Center, the first floor of Harris Hall, the first floor of Old Main outside the registrar's office and Baker anticipates a box in Smith Hall. Phones can also be dropped off in Baker's offices in Old Main 236, Harris Hall 312 or left with the secretary of the Psychology Department. Boxes will also be placed in hospitals and churches to collect phones.
The drive will be ongoing and organizations wishing to participate are welcomed.
"Any group that would like to support domestic violence victims can do a drive on their own and contact Branches to drop off the phones," Baker said.
Once an organization has collected a number of phones, Branches can be contacted at 529-2382 for someone to come collect the phones.
"This is an easy way for your organization to be able to give back to the community that is not time consuming for you or your employees," Rhonda Hall, executive director of Branches, said through a news release.
Branches Domestic Violence Shelter is an agency that provides services to approximately 2,000 victims per year in a five county radius of Cabell, Wayne, Lincoln, Mason and Putnam counties. Services provided include emergency shelter, counseling, support groups, legal advocacy and links to social services.
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