#PalmCares Week 5: Donating Palms to Those in Need

May 12, 2020

As we close out the final week of our social donation program, we wanted to first take the time to thank everyone who submitted their story to us. While it’s still unclear all of the lasting effects that COVID-19 will have on the world, our hope is that we never lose our connection with our communities, friends and loved ones. At Palm, we have always emphasized the importance of staying connected to what matters most in life. It was our goal through this program to help people do just that.

We are happy to share that we’ve donated six Palms to people this week and we wanted to share some of their stories here.

For our final week of our donation program, we donated Palms to:

A grandmother in New York
An teacher in Florida, nominated by her husband
A small business owner and father of two in Missouri
A surgical technician working the frontlines in California
A grandmother making meals for those in need in New York, nominated by her son
An unemployed security worker and father in New Jersey, nominated by his friend

Here are some of their stories:

It’s been said many times that family is the most important thing in life. So when you’re not able to reach them or stay in contact, it can be agonizing. Janis is a grandmother living in New York who is desperate to stay in touch with her family, but is without the means to fix or replace her broken phone. Here is more from Janis:

“Hello my name is Janis and my smartphone just broke. The screen is smashed and I use my phone to keep in contact with my daughter and her family in New Jersey. Since my phone isn't working, I have no way to be able to get in touch with them. Plus, I am not working so I have been working on my own business from home so I can stay healthy and safe from the virus and still be able to pay bills without getting sick. I especially need to keep contact with everyone in my family, since my husband has cancer, my dad has liver cancer and my daughter has seizures, and not knowing how they are all doing is really stressing me out. Plus I still owe money on the phone that just broke, so I can not afford to buy another phone for a while. Please can you help me out to keep connected with my family through these hard times? I would really appreciate it and be grateful for your help. My grandchildren would love to hear from me they're a big part of my life and I miss my family so much, so if you could help me I would be very happy and thankful.”

Starting your own business is a part of the American dream, so when Joe and his wife decided after months and years of planning to start their dream, they never thought in a million years that a plague would sweep through and put their business at a standstill. Here’s more from Joe:

“Hello my name is Joe, I’m writing this on an old phone using WiFi. My family cell service was shut off earlier this week because frankly that was the “least” important bill I have. Ironic, since my livelihood depends on a reliable phone. You see, my wife and I started our own pest control company this past December... Our timing, it turns out, couldn’t have been worse! We use our cell phones as part of our business phone line, contacting customers for service calls, GPS to drive all over the state if need be, etc. It really is my lifeline as I’m out traveling from customer to customer.

My wife and I have a little girl who we now homeschool, along with most parents in the country today. So it’s even more important that at least one of us can stay connected as we juggle work/teaching in this current reality of ours.

Unfortunately buying a new phone/$100 cell phone bill is honestly impossible at the moment. Since almost all of our service area is under stay at home orders, we offered quite a few of the customers we’ve acquired to let them put their accounts on hold for the foreseeable future.

I’m sure there are others out there in a worse situation that my family finds itself in that are just as deserving. All I can say is that it would mean the world to me if you consider my situation and if you feel so inclined to lend a helping hand to somebody that would appreciate something good happening more than you can imagine!”

Teaching is already a hard enough job as it is. We’ve all seen the posts blowing up across social media of parents thanking teachers for what they do, especially now that so much of that role has fallen on to parents. However, most teachers are doing anything and everything they can to stay in touch with their students and make sure that they are progressing in their education. Although, this is a lot harder to do when you don’t have a dedicated means of facilitating that connection. Here is more from Adam who nominated his wife:

“My name is Adam and my wife is a school teacher. She has been working from home and needs a good phone to keep in contact with her students, which has been very hard to do. I am sitting here as my wife is working from home and now I fully see what she is doing to reach out to her students. Some students do not have computers and some only have cell phones. The school does not have enough computers to go around so my wife has my cell phone and my sons use video chat with one phone and voice with the other. Another phone would really help out a lot.”

It goes without saying that our healthcare industry has been put into a tailspin by the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone has had to readjust their schedules and reallocated resources and talent to help the most people as possible. Thomas, who is normally a surgical technician, has been working the COVID-19 tents helping to test and treat patients, all while being terrified of bringing the disease home with him at the end of each day. Here’s more from Thomas:

“Hello Palm my name is Thomas I am a surgical technician. I'm currently working the COVID-19 tents dealing with positive and potentially positive COVID-19 patients. I pull 12hr days in the tents and I don't like to have my phone in there, in fear that I might bring something back home to my family. I would love to be able to keep in touch with my friends and family and coworkers through one of your devices . They look like the perfect tool–they are small and powerful enough to do all that I would need during these times when I'm not sure how things will be one day to the next. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing back from you.”

Helping care for her community is something she is not only used to, but makes a priority, even during a worldwide pandemic. However, without a reliable or effective means of communication, continuing to give back to her community is proving difficult, which is why her son wrote in to nominate his mom for our program. Dewitt explains more in his submission:

“This is really hard, I don't usually ask for help, I'm usually the one helping but I don't know what else to do. A friend sent me the info about this wonderful promotion because I was really upset about me and my mother not being able to connect with the rest of the family.

She is alone and the isolation is really getting to her. She has grandchildren of different ages and she is missing all of their special first moments and it is breaking her heart. My sister and I are not working and are suffering financial hardships and we are not able to get her a device to communicate with her.

Me and my mom used to visit many people during the week, cook them food and keep them company. She is still cooking food for them and a service is delivering the food for her but we can't keep them company virtually or physically and it's making it harder on her and her friends.

With it being mothers day coming up not being able to get her a phone really breaks my heart more and she really deserves it. Please help.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only wreaked havoc on our healthcare system, but more people are out of work today in the United States than we’ve seen since the Great Depression. For those who have lost their jobs, having to decide between staying connected and paying an overpriced cell phone bill is not an easy decision, which is why we wanted to help Rona who wrote in to nominate her friend.

“Hello my name is Rona I have a friend, Audley, who is in need of a phone. He is out of work, he has been doing security work for a club which is now closed due to the quarantine, he has four children that do not live with him and one lives out of state, his mother and siblings live out of the state. I listen to how worried he is about not having contact with them all the time, I let him use my phone when I'm in the neighborhood just to leave messages, he also is having a hard time trying to find work because there is no way for him to get call back, he is a very selfless person and I think he will be so grateful if he was to receive help.”

We again want to thank everyone who took the time to submit their story to us. We understand the importance of staying connected during these uncertain times and we at Palm want to help in any way we can, which is why we launched our Friends and Family Sale. Get up to $150 in savings across any of our bundles, as well as 20% off retail price of an unlocked Palm. We want to keep you connected at a price you can afford, which is why we teamed up with US Mobile to create data plans specifically for Palm users that start at just $5/month. That means you can get a new Palm and connect your Palm for just $30/month total with our financing options. Take advantage of the sale while supplies last!