SEATTLE -- You may have your eyes on Apple's upcoming iPhone or maybe you got a new cell phone over the holidays.

Now, what will you do with your old cell phone?

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Bob Branom tells us how to put that old phone to a good, new use.

You may already have an old, useless cell phone or two tossed in a drawer someplace.

Well, now there's a new nationwide program whose goal is to put these into the hands of people who can really use them.

"This is my microwave dish," says Patrick MacLeod.

MacLeod wheels himself around the tiny kitchen of his government-subsidized apartment in West Seattle.

Before a near-fatal accident years ago, this Army veteran operated two restaurants in Germany, and he prides himself on his cooking.

These days Patrick McLeod spends much of his time writing his own translation of the Bible. It's part of a spiritual transformation in 1971, after his car collided with a bulldozer in Germany, nearly killing him and leaving him in a coma. He finally woke up to multiple broken bones and a serious brain injury.

"(I was) a real mess," MacLeod said. "But by the grace of God, he pulled me through all that."

But now, at 63, he's concerned about what might happen next. The accident left him with one leg shorter than the other. He still walks with difficulty and worries about falling and further crippling himself -- an accident common among his many friends in the apartment complex.

"If a person falls down -- because I hear about it all the time here -- living, being a senior also, you know you hear about this all the time."

But help is on the way. MacLeod is about to receive a free cell phone that he can use to dial 911 in the event of any kind of emergency when he can't reach his regular, landline phone.

"I thought, 'Wow, what a blessing,'" he said.

It's thanks to a nationwide charitable program called Phones for Life. People donate their used and unwanted cell phones. Phones for Life will refurbish them, power them, and give them away free to seniors, the disabled and victims of domestic violence.

The program is supported by the City of Seattle and other government agencies.

For Patrick MacLeod, who's dealt with so much badness in his life, Phones For Life is a testament to people's goodness.

"It just goes to show you there are people out there that think more than just of themselves," MacLeod said.

Partly because the program is only a few years old, the demand for these life-saving phones is way larger than the supply.

Patrick MacLeod is among those enduring a long waiting list.