Your abandoned old mobile phone can be invaluable for someone else — that is the idea behind a campaign launched by a riders’ club.
The members of Dream Riders Club have hit the road on their beloved motorbikes with a dream different from that of exploring new places. The campaign aims at helping students left out of online education for want of a smartphone. They collect damaged and abandoned smartphones from homes, repair them and hand them over to needy students who produce an affidavit from their school authorities.
“Almost all households will have an old smartphone, either damaged or abandoned for the sake of a better version, since operating platforms like Android bring out updated versions with increasing frequency. Those willing to donate them can contact us. Our members will collect them from their homes,” said Bruto K.J., secretary of the club.
Since the club has members across the State, collecting mobile phones is not a problem. The club is also in talks with other clubs in places where they do not have their own members. At present, phones are being collected only from Ernakulam.
100 phones collected
Already over a 100 phones have been collected. The club has members who run mobile phone shops, and the phones’ repair is thus taken care of. However, the shortage of spare parts owing to the lockdown has posed a problem. “We have sought a fortnight’s time to deliver the phones,” said Mr. Bruto. The club is planning to spend up to ₹1,500 on each phone considering that many phones only have minor problems.
A misconception
The social media campaign by the club, however, was mistaken by a section who rang up under the impression that damaged mobile phones will be repaired for free. “We are not into free repairing of mobile phones for their owners. We are looking for people willing to donate their old phones so that we can give them to eligible students and help with their online education,” said Mr. Bruto.
