A number where someone can reach you
We give you a real phone number and a private voicemail box, at no cost. Put it on applications. Give it to a clinic, a caseworker, a landlord, your family. Check your messages from any phone.
One number that stays yours
A real 10-digit line
Not an extension, not a shared line. It looks like any other phone number on a form, because it is one.
A private greeting in your own voice
You record it. Callers hear you, not a recording that says you don't have a phone.
Check it from any phone, free
A payphone, a shelter phone, a library phone, a friend's phone. Dial in, enter your PIN, listen.
Set up takes about ten minutes
You can do the whole thing over the phone. There's no form to fill out, no address to give, and nothing to pay.
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1
Call us, or ask any partner agency
Tell us you'd like a voicemail number. If you're already working with a shelter, clinic, or job program on our partner list, staff there can set you up on the spot.
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2
Pick your PIN and record your greeting
You choose a four-digit PIN. Then you record your own greeting — say as much or as little as you want. You can change both any time.
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3
Write your number down and start giving it out
We'll repeat it back and mail you a card with it if you have an address. From then on, dial in whenever you want to check messages.
If a missed call costs you something
- —You're between housing and don't have a stable address or phone.
- —You're job hunting and can't afford to miss a callback.
- —You're leaving a situation and need a number that isn't tied to you.
- —You're coming home from incarceration and rebuilding contacts.
- —Your phone gets shut off some months and turned back on others.
- —You share one phone with a household and need your own line.
We don't listen, and we don't tell
Your messages are yours. Staff can't play them back and we don't keep transcripts.
Your number isn't listed anywhere and doesn't show your name, your location, or where you sleep.
We don't ask for a Social Security number, an ID, or an address to give you a number. If you'd rather not give us your real name, use whatever name you want your greeting to say.
If you're leaving an unsafe situation, tell us when you call and we'll set the box up so it gives out nothing at all.
Enroll the people you already serve
Shelters, clinics, workforce boards, reentry programs, and DV advocates can issue numbers directly instead of referring out. We'll train your staff, give you a block of numbers, and send a monthly list of which ones are active so nothing sits unused.
Keep the lines open
Every number we hand out is paid for by someone else. Donations cover the lines themselves, the intake staff who answer at 8am, and the cards we mail out. We're a registered 501(c)(3) and we publish what we spend.