A Life-Saving Call

The Body Shop—with the support of celebrities like Grammy winning hip-hop music sensation Missy Elliott—is urging Americans to bring hope to countless domestic violence victims by spring cleaning with a conscience, recycling the estimated 65 million old cell phones lying around in homes across the United States.

The call comes in response to new research showing almost 157 million Americans—that’s more than half of the adult population (56 percent)—personally know someone who has suffered at the hands of a violent partner.

The Body Shop has partnered with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), the Wireless Foundation and Lifetime Television for the 2005 Donate a Phone, Save a Life campaign.

"I know from personal experience that this is a great cause that highlights an important and too often ignored issue," Missy Elliott says. "On behalf of The Body Shop, the NCADV and the Wireless Foundation, I urge everyone to dig up their unused wireless phones and bring them to your closest The Body Shop retail store. It is the easiest way to make a huge difference, and you might even save a life."

A Body Shop study conducted by KRC Research reveals the alarming inconsistency between how women think they’d behave if abused by their partner and the reality.

When questioned about how they’d react if physically assaulted for the first time by a current or future partner, more than a third (39 percent) of female adults say they’d leave straight away.

Yet the shocking reality is that a woman suffering domestic violence will attempt to leave her abuser an average of five to seven times before actually doing so. And more than one third (34 percent) of women across America told researchers for The Body Shop they would be too embarrassed to tell their family and friends if their partner was abusing them.

The Donate a Phone, Save a Life campaign urges people across the United States to donate old or unwanted cellular phones at any of 300-plus The Body Shop U.S. retail locations through Aug. 31, 2005.

Donated phones will be sold, refurbished or recycled by Recellular Inc. of Dexter, Mich., with proceeds benefiting the NCADV and the Wireless Foundation. Additionally, a number of phones will be distributed to approximately 200 women’s shelters for dissemination to at-risk women who need access to a personal safety system when domestic violence strikes.

“Millions of unused cell phones can be the difference between life and death for countless domestic violence victims,” says Joanne Calabrese, president of The Body Shop Americas Region. “There has never been a simpler way to personally get involved in a public awareness campaign that ultimately can save lives.”

Rita Smith, executive director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, says, “Because domestic violence is rarely a one-time occurrence, the consequences of staying with an abusive partner can become devastating over time.” She adds, “The Donate a Phone, Save a Life campaign is helping to raise the much-needed funds to help further the fight against this heinous crime and give a number of victims the promise of an extended lifeline.”