One of the incredible things that is being witnessed throughout this pandemic is the power of communities, and how many people and businesses have gone out of their way to do their bit to support others.
We’re incredibly proud to be playing our part by supporting our customers in whatever way we can and have already spoken about how each of our network users received extra data to help them stay connected with their loved ones over the last few months.
But, we still wanted to do more and so when we received a call from 16-25 Independent People on a Friday evening and knew we could help, we quickly paused our weekend plans and kickstarted some new development work just for them.
If you haven’t heard of them before, 16-25 Independent People is an incredible charity who have supported young people who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless for over 30 years now. The impact their work has had is indescribable and their support is relied upon by so many individuals. However, like so many charities, this pandemic has provided them with some challenges.
Ben Riddell got in touch from 16-25 Independent People explaining that they needed help keeping some of their vulnerable young people connected at the moment and as we understood the problems they were facing we knew that we were the perfect organisation to help.
They had some limited funding and had received some donated devices, but hadn’t found a way to provide connectivity to the people they were so desperate to support. So, we offered to provide our SIM cards to 16-25 Independent People at cost price so that the donated devices could be put straight to use and the young people would be able to stay connected.
Not only that, but we built a custom front end to the Honest Mobile app which lets 16-25 Independent People centrally manage all their SIM cards and data allowances in one, easy to use, place. We also got in touch with our hardware supplier and arranged for amazing value handsets to be sent straight to the charity so even more young people could get connected.
Since the middle of April, we’ve had some amazing feedback from the team and are thrilled to be making a difference:
Ben from 16-25 Independent People said:
The [young people] were waiting for me on the doorstep very eagerly anticipating my arrival and said that they’ve been stuck at home with no data for weeks and were so excited because the SIM will change everything for them. Just wanted to pass on this story as I think there are going to be a lot of [young people] with very similar feelings over the next few weeks while we distribute and that your support is making a big difference!
As a small business, we’re incredibly proud to be providing support in the best way we know how, by providing a service that really helps keep people stay connected in a time when people need it most. But, our mission has always been more than just providing a good network, and we’re always looking to improve and find new ways we can support our people and communities not just now, but in the future too. So, if you have any ideas or suggestions on how we can do more, we would always love to hear from you.