Do you change your phone every year or two, each time your contract expires? Do you have a used phone or two lying around unused at home? Why not donate it to a good cause?

Bethesda Care Services has put out a call for used handphones, which the community services organisation will distribute to elderly, to allow them to connect with friends and family members not staying in the same household during the COVID-19 Circuit Breaker period.

BCS will distribute the phones to elderly clients, and teach them how to use them to make video calls. This will be part of its ongoing Befriending Project to help the elderly residing in eastern Singapore to age well, physically and cognitively.

“Your smartphones will enable us to equip the frail, homebound elderly so that we can be digitally connected with them, to alleviate their loneliness – especially in this Circuit Breaker season,” said a spokesperson for BCS.

Apart from more interaction, putting a smartphone in a senior citizen’s home has a safety element to it, the spokesperson noted, as BCS’ Befrienders – staff and volunteers who look out for the welfare of clients – can check in on the elderly, especially in the current coronavirus-enforced climate where they are advised not to leave the house.

“There is a need to help our elderly to be digitally savvy. It may be a tedious journey, but we need to take the first step. Many only know how to use a mobile phone for its most basic function – to make a voice call. There is no way to conduct video calls with them,” said the spokesperson.

“Video calls also allow our Befrienders to establish visual contact beyond what a landline offers. This enables our Befrienders to be our eyes on the ground when they are unable to make a house visit.”

So if you have a smartphone in good working condition – such as an iPhone 8 or Samsung Galaxy 9 or newer – with working charger and cable, drop BCS a line via this online form and help an elderly Singaporean during this period of isolation.