Help the Manchester victims – by donating your old mobile phone
‘Important that we do whatever we can’
A MANCHESTER bomb survivor backed the Daily Mail’s Mobiles for Manchester appeal yesterday as generous readers began donating their phones.
Caroline Davis was seriously injured and her best friend Wendy Fawell was among the 22 killed in the atrocity, which targeted children as they left a pop concert.
The two mothers were waiting to collect their children from the Ariana Grande concert and separated just moments before the blast.
Mrs Davis, 39, was left unconscious and has been warned it could take years for her to recover fully from her multiple injuries, including a shattered elbow, a shrapnel wound to her leg, a hole in her heel and a cut to her head.
Despite her injuries, she has vowed to act as a second mother to Mrs Fawell’s 15-year-old daughter Charlotte, who was at the concert and has been devastated by her own mother’s death.
Mother- of-three Mrs Davis said: ‘ I’m happy to back the Daily Mail’s Mobiles for Manchester appeal.
‘Victims and their families will need a lot of help in the coming days and months, and if you have an old phone not being used, then donating that can help.’
Community leaders have rallied behind the Mail’s appeal to help those affected by the terror attack by asking readers to donate their unwanted mobile phones to be reused or recycled.
The Bishop of Manchester David Walker, who has met victims’ families and survivors in the aftermath of the attack, said many of them would need support for years to come. He said: ‘ There will be many young people whose lives will now be very different from how they had imagined just one week ago.
‘It is important that we all do whatever we can for the injured, and for those whose scars are mental, not physical.
‘If this appeal can get people to dig out their old phones to donate to support those people then it is an imaginative idea which could help to make a difference.’
Research has found that more than a third of UK households have at least one unwanted phone gathering dust in a drawer or cupboard.
They are almost all worth money, from a few pounds to hundreds for more up-todate smartphones.
The Mail has teamed up with Carphone Warehouse, which has agreed to accept mobiles in its 1,000 stores across the country and to donate all the money raised to the Mail’s appeal.
The bulk of the money raised by Mail readers will go to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund to support the injured and bereaved.
The rest of the money raised will be sent to interfaith charities to help communities unite against terror and tackle prejudice and hatred.
Anyone who wants to donate their mobile phone can take it to any branch of Carphone Warehouse.
You should tell staff you want to donate it to the Mobiles for Manchester appeal and – if you have not cleared the data from it at home (see the ‘6 Steps’ panel for an explanation) then you should ask them for help.
Carphone Warehouse has generously donated 1,000 phones, with a value of £25,000, and all money generated from donated phones will go to the Mail’s appeal. Thanks to public support, more
than £5.5 million has already been donated to the We Love Manchester fund, run by Manchester City Council in conjunction with the British Red Cross.
Greater Manchester’s new mayor Andy Burnham has said: ‘Our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones, so I would encourage everyone to support this fund in any way they can.’
Carphone Warehouse managing director Jeremy Fennell said: ‘Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the events in Manchester. Mobiles for Manchester is a great way of showing solidarity and helping the families and community affected, so we are proud to be able to play our part.
‘Millions of people have old mobile phones. Bring them into our stores and we will turn them into cash to go directly to those affected by the bombing.’