Alexa, ask the British Heart Foundation to collect my unwanted furniture
The charity’s new Alexa Skill can also be used to arrange collections of electrical items or to send money donations.
Amazon Echo users can now donate their unwanted old furniture and electrical items to the British Heart Foundation using a new Alexa skill.
The charity claims to be the first in the world to use the smart speaker to enable people to arrange a collection for their donations, as well as making money donations.
It’s hoped that the unique way of making donations will help fund over £100 million a year for pioneering research into heart and circulatory conditions.
“Alexa, ask British Heart Foundation to collect my furniture,” is all users have to say, or, “Alexa, open British Heart Foundation and donate money”.
Your desired contact method on your Amazon account is then sent to the nearest BHF store to you, where staff will get in touch to finalise the collection.
The charity also shares the story of an ARVC sufferer on the Echo once you’ve made a donation, talking about the rare genetic disease that affects the heart muscle and is currently without a cure.
“The launch of this new project marks an incredibly exciting time for the British Heart Foundation and highlights our ambition to embrace new technologies in our quest to fund more research for the seven million people in the UK living with heart and circulatory disease,” explained British Heart Foundation chief executive Simon Gillespie.
“More people than ever own a digital assistant like the Amazon Echo and it’s really exciting for our supporters to be able to use their device to support lifesaving heart research.”
