The CNIB Foundation is hoping that people who find smartphones under the Christmas tree - or acquire one at a Boxing Day sale - will donate their old ones to a blind person through the "Phone It Forward" program.
David Demers of the CNIB Foundation-Quebec calls smartphones a game-changer for blind people.
After he lost his vision suddenly at the age of 29, the apps on his first smartphone broke his isolation by allowing him to hear and respond to emails and texts, and get around with a talking GPS.
"In my case, it's replaced over half a dozen devices I used to have to carry with me," he says. "They really are a Swiss Army Knife of accessibility for blind people."
Demers says the CNIB Foundation's "Phone It Forward" campaign aims to put a free refurbished iPhone into the hand of any blind person needing one.
"The problem is most blind people can't afford a smartphone because many of them make less than $20,000 a year," Demers says.
The Foundation's Quebec wing has one hundred people on a waiting list.
Used smartphones of most makes and models are accepted by the "Phone It Forward" program, even if they are lightly damaged. IPhones of version 5 and more recent are refurbished, loaded with useful apps, and given to a blind person, along with some training. Older iPhones and Android smartphones are traded in at a recycler for more recent iPhones.
The donor receives a tax receipt for the value of the phone.
Donation information can be found at the "Phone It Forward" website.