Google Gives All San Francisco Homeless Free Voicemail

Buy an ad on DigitalJournal.com

MSNBC is reporting that Google has partnered with San Francisco to provide an unbelievable service for ALL of SF's homeless population.

They're giving them life-long phone numbers and free voicemail forever. Every single homeless person in the city will be given these things should they want to accept them.

Homeless people will be able to call in and receive their messages from any phone. This voicemail service will allow homeless to put their contact information on job applications that ask for a callback number, opening the door to unlimited possibilities and hopes for getting back on track.

SF Mayor Gavin Newsom and Google are saying they want to empower homeless people.

"How do you communicate as a homeless individual? " Newsom asked. "How do you expect your life to turn around if you can't even get information or if someone can't even get in touch with you?"

Google says that the number cannot be easily detected as being "a homeless number" either allowing more anonymity for those that need to use the new service.

"It just seems exactly like any other voice mail," said Craig Walker, senior project manager of Google. "There's no stigma attached to it that 'hey this is a temporary thing' or 'this is an 800 number.' It's really just a local number owned by the user."

Participants will also obviously benefit from being able to give their new number to family members that can call in and give updates and leave message for people that were previously unreachable.

One homeless man stated:
"Having your family, friends and loved ones being able to say 'here I'm thinking about you, I love you, I want you to know you're mine, and I miss you,' can have a monumental change in one's behavior."

The program is ready to start right away, and I think it is one of the best ideas Google has come out with since its search engine. And it's a great way to build brand loyalty with consumers worldwide.