It is always exciting to see Virgin Mobile add devices to its RE*Generation Program – three are available to purchase now and the Samsung Galaxy Alpha will be added when it comes out for a Virgin Mobile donation of $15. The purchase of a Samsung Galaxy S5 will also fetch a $15 donation, the Galaxy S4 will bring about a $10 donation and even a Samsung Galaxy SIII will still garner a $5 donation. If you are not familiar with the RE*Generation program, it has been around since 2008 and was set up to help the homeless and at-risk youths by providing them with opportunities to better themselves. There are 35,000 youth across Canada living in emergency shelters and another up to 6,000 that sleep on the streets on any given night. At-risk youths including the 225,000 that are not in school and not working – those that may be headed towards homelessness.
About a half of all job losses in 2008-2009 involved the youthful worker and more than 225,000 of those jobs have never returned. With little opportunity to get a job, they cannot afford rent or even food – no decent living conditions or basic necessities. They need to be given the necessary training that they need in order to secure a job…the cycle must be broken and RE*Generation gives them that opportunity and so much more. There are other ways that you can help besides when you buy your new phone – in their “Change For a Dollar” program customers can add just $1 to their phone bill each month as a donation to the Virgin Mobile RE*Generation fund. They also have a “Text to Donate” program where you can send them a text to send a $5 donation. They also have a “RE*Generation Concert Series” where part of the proceeds are donated to their partners.
Virgin Mobile has teamed up with partners to help them fight for the at-risk and homeless youth – CivicAction and Social Capital Partners help get others involved in helping youth find and keep jobs. Investments are made in programs known to be youth-serving groups: NPower – Eva’s Phoenix, Broadway Youth Resource Center, Wood’s Homes, Threshold School of Building, LGBT YouthLine, SKETCH, #NotACHOICE Campaign, Dans La Rue, and Raising the Roof. Please hit our Google+ Page and let us know if you have participated in the RE*Generation program at Virgin Mobile…as always, we would love to hear from you.