Verizon Strives To End The Cycle Of Violence With Prevent Child Abuse America

Prevent Child Abuse America receives $20,000 Verizon Foundation Grant to Support Agency's Programs, Services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHICAGO, IL (August 22, 2011) — Abuse survivors in the Chicago area will benefit from a $20,000 donation made by Verizon Wireless to Prevent Child Abuse America. The Verizon Foundation grant will help fund vital services to prevent child abuse, and stop the cycle of violence in the Chicago area.

"Verizon is dedicated to supporting organizations like Prevent Child Abuse America that help stop violence at home," said T.J. Fox, President, Wisconsin/Illinois Region, Verizon Wireless. "We applaud Prevent Child Abuse America's important contribution to our community to raise awareness of this pervasive problem and to end the cycle of violence."

The grant was made possible through the Verizon Foundation, which uses financial, human and technological resources to improve communities and address social issues such as education, domestic violence prevention and family safety. Since 2004, the Foundation has invested nearly $490 million back into communities nationwide.

"We truly value Verizon Wireless' dedication and long time commitment to prevent child abuse and neglect from occurring in the first place,” said Jim Hmurovich, President & CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America. “This donation will help us continue our mission to not only prevent child abuse and neglect but hopefully decrease one of the contributing causes that leads to domestic violence".

Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine Program

Verizon also puts the nation’s most reliable wireless network to work in the community through its award-winning HopeLine program. Through this program, Verizon collects no-longer-used wireless phones, batteries and accessories in any condition from any wireless service provider. These phones are then refurbished and sold, with the proceeds going to support local domestic violence shelters and programs. The program also provides domestic violence agencies with wireless phones and airtime for use by domestic violence victims to use as a lifeline. Phones that cannot be refurbished are recycled in an environmentally sound way under a zero-landfill policy.

Since 2001, HopeLine has collected more than 8 million phones; awarded more than $10 million in cash grants to prevention and awareness programs nationwide; and donated more than 106,000 HopeLine phones with 319 million minutes of airtime to victims, survivors and domestic violence organizations. Last year in Illinois alone, more than 36,000 phones were donated to the program, and more than $100,000 in cash grants helped survivors of domestic violence across the state.

For more information on HopeLine from Verizon and to learn how to donate a wireless phone, please visit here.

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About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s fastest and most advanced 4G network and largest and most reliable 3G network, and serves more than 94 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 82,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit here. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library here.

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