Source
r/montreal•
Rumandy

Where would it be possible to donate an old phone to a homeless shelter.. or a program that would do such thing

AskMTL

I have an iPhone 6 that I've recently upgraded. Had it for 3+ years but it still has a good battery life (87%). Was thinking of selling it for cheap but instead now i think i'd like to donate it to someone (more specifically to a place that would do that for me) who would need it more (as a lot of homeless people do have phones, some are unfortunate to not have).

Tried to do some googling but nothing much came up.

So essentially, does anyone have any ideas of where i might be able to do this in MTL?

Posted Jan 8, 2022, 4:37 AM UTC

1817
emotional_lily•

I’m not sure if they take phones but I’ve donated to Chez Doris, a women’s shelter in the past before. Try giving them a call!

15
RumandyOP•

i'll look into this!

1
LearnedEnglishDogPlateau Mont-Royal•

Resilience shelter (Cabot square, Ste-Cath at Atwater) has put out a few calls for phones. I’m sure they’d appreciate it—and thanks for being generous and sharing the idea with other folks.

7
ChechoMontigo•

Google “211 Quebec” and you can find directories to charities and local organizations who help the less fortunate.

5
RumandyOP•

thank you!

2
FaithlessnessFull972•

Montrealers Helping Montrealers on Facebook. I see people giving their old phones quite frequently. Chez Doris is a good cause as well. I remember at one point that Telus provided a free basic plan for women in shelters. Not sure if that is still a thing, but hopefully so.

4
moncompteajete•

Lots of pharmacies have drop offs. They get reformatted and given to seniors as in case of emergency phones.

4
dokclaw•

Dans la Rue definitely accepts old phones - they have a dropoff somewhere near or in the village.

3
RumandyOP•

oh!! i'm close to the village! thank you :)

1
KingPinTie•

Maybe not exactly what you’re looking for, but electrobac (the bins you see in many metros/grocery stores) are a non-profit recycling old electronics.

Could be an alternative if you can’t find a more direct donation option.

Cheers and thanks for being nice lol

2
wookie_cookies•

Montrealers helping montrealers (facebook group) is a wonderful place to give a phone. It may not be a homeless person, but I got a phone once, it gave me happy tears. Wait till someone posts urgent need a phone. Happens at least once a week.

2
montrealbro•

Accepting phones is one thing, but is there a service that provides the homeless with mobile subscription?

1
RumandyOP•

i'd assume not but there's enough places with free wifi that still works if you're standing outside of the building. So if they need to send emails, or really do much of anything on their phones that requires internet, it should be mostly possible with even an old model like mine.

9
montrealbro•

Ah I see. Maybe that's why they all hang out around restaurants on Park Avenue.

​

Of course, you assume restaurants will be okay with providing homeless with free internet bandwidth meant for customers.

-5
sthenri_canalposting•

There's a lot of spaces with WiFi that aren't restaurants, like, uh, libraries...

3
friendlybabe•

Of course! Restauraunts are the only places with free wifi! Now that libraries, shelters, comunity centers, malls, train stations, sports centers, and government offices have all disappeared. Good thing there are lots of buisness owners who wouldnt actually mind if someone in need used their wifi. I wonder if we could get some kind of lock to go on certain wifi signals if someone didnt want theirs used... like a magic word of some kind that you could change or give out to only your customers... Oh well guess we'll all have to suffer.

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
JayJayFrench🐎•

JayJayFrench.org\gimmefreestuff.justkidding

-13