Google Supports GrandCentral's Project CARE
GrandCentral, the "one phone number for life" initiative that provides permanent phone numbers and unlimited voicemail service to San Francisco's homeless was acquired by Google last month. A phone number might not be the first thing that comes to mind when helping the homeless, but GrandCentral founders Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet see it this way:
"For homeless people and others in need, not having a stable phone number can be crippling: you need one to follow up on medical appointments, keep in touch with friends and loved ones, and hear back from prospective employers."
GrandCentral has been operating Project CARE ("Communications and Respect for Everybody") since April 2006, and with the help of more than 20 community outreach partners has provided more than 5,000
phone numbers and served close to 100,000 voicemail messages to homeless and needy people in the Bay Area. Someone calling a number from Project CARE will have the same experience as someone calling a standard phone number, and voicemail messages can be stored as long as they're needed. Food, clothing, and shelter may be the fundamental human needs, but this increasingly wired world may require that a "technology" level be added to Maslow's hierarchy. I hope that Google continues this kind of outreach to bridge the digital devide. It's good for the community, great publicity for GrandCentral, and one more way Google can continue their effort to "not be evil."
GrandCentral has been operating Project CARE ("Communications and Respect for Everybody") since April 2006, and with the help of more than 20 community outreach partners has provided more than 5,000 phone numbers and served close to 100,000 voicemail messages to homeless and needy people in the Bay Area. Someone calling a number from Project CARE will have the same experience as someone calling a standard phone number, and voicemail messages can be stored as long as they're needed. Food, clothing, and shelter may be the fundamental human needs, but this increasingly wired world may require that a "technology" level be added to Maslow's hierarchy. I hope that Google continues this kind of outreach to bridge the digital devide. It's good for the community, great publicity for GrandCentral, and one more way Google can continue their effort to "not be evil."
