How Big Bend Community Action switched to CREDO Mobile to save money — and live their values

Bernie Zelazny has a tough, but rewarding job. Driving long hours on the rural roads near the Texas-Mexico border, Bernie and his crew spend many of their working days helping older and low-income people in the sprawling, four-county region get to and from their medical appointments, pick up groceries and prescriptions, and help folks make ends meet.

As a team member and financial officer at Big Bend Community Action, an anti-poverty nonprofit serving the southwest Texas region, Bernie is proud of the organization’s work fighting poverty and helping low-income people so they can become income self-sufficient.

During a recent chat, Bernie told me how his organization has had measurable positive impacts on people’s lives, because the group’s work is so unique: Unlike most poverty-related organizations that focus on a specific area of need, such as job training, health care, housing, or economic development, Big Bend Community Action takes a comprehensive approach to the needs of low-income people in their communities, addressing their multiple needs and developing partnerships with other community organizations to administer a full range of coordinated programs for those in need.

And just like their clients who are working hard to get along in these economic times, Big Bend Community Action, like any nonprofit, is always looking to save a little extra money, too, especially on big or essential business expenses.

One of those big-ticket expenses is their employee phone plan. Most of the staff and drivers at BBCA use smartphones to contact their clients and use mobile data and GPS for navigating the long winding roads of southwest Texas. With dozens of lines on their account, those costs add up. So, when their mobile carrier raised the price on their business plan, Bernie started looking for alternatives to upgrade their fleet of smartphones along with a new mobile plan for the organization.

A longtime activist in his spare time, Bernie knew about CREDO Mobile because of our work over the years to create positive progressive change and our partnerships with nonprofit organizations, so he gave us a call. He explained his situation with our team, who helped to upgrade nearly three dozen smartphones and find a data plan that fit their needs perfectly — while saving his organization thousands of dollars every year in operating expenses.

“I couldn’t be happier with our new CREDO Mobile service,” he told me recently. “We not only have fast service in some of the most remote parts of our area, but we’re saving thousands while doing business with a mobile company that shares our values.”

We couldn’t be happier having Big Bend Community Action as part of the CREDO Mobile family, either! And we’re always looking for new ways we can help nonprofits and small businesses save on their mobile plans while doing business with a carrier working to make positive social change in the world. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can get started with CREDO Mobile, please feel free to reach out to us at 888-585-0354.