10/06/06 ORANGEBURG, NY ? Verizon Wireless, the nation's leading wireless provider, has awarded $30,000 in grants to fund new and expanded domestic violence prevention and education programs in the New York Metro region. The grants, $10,000 each, were awarded to the Center Against Domestic Violence in Brooklyn, NY; Palladia, Inc. of Manhattan; and the YWCA Eastern Union County in Elizabeth, NJ. Funding was made possible through the company's HopeLine® wireless phone recycling program.
Verizon Wireless created its HopeLine program over 10 years ago to put the company's wireless products and services to work to help victims of domestic violence enhance their safety. The cornerstone of the program is the recycling of no-longer-used wireless phones, collected at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores throughout the New York Metro area and stores across the nation. Hopeline collects wireless phones and accessories from any wireless service provider, and then refurbishes the phones or recycles them in an environmentally friendly manner.
During the past four years, Verizon Wireless has awarded 12 grants in New York and New Jersey, totaling $120,000, in addition to numerous phone and other cash donations.
?All community-minded citizens who turned in their old wireless phones at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores have helped to make these grants possible,? said Charles Hand, Verizon Wireless New York Metro Region president. ?Clearly, the HopeLine phone recycling program is working to support domestic violence prevention and help women re-build their lives.?
At the Center Against Domestic Violence in Brooklyn, the HopeLine grant will support a Relationship Abuse Prevention Program's (RAPP) poster contest. This contest will be held in 15 New York City pubic intermediate and high schools to help raise awareness and respond to the impact of interpersonal violence among teens.
The HopeLine grant to the Palladia, Inc. will support an integrated arts program in Athena House, which serves 120 families each year. The program includes therapeutic resources for children including dollhouses, board games, toys, and performances by Big Apple Playback Theatre, which enacts personal stories told by audience members, creating a forum for dialogues and community building.
The third 2006 HopeLine grant recipient is the YWCA of Eastern Union County, New Jersey. The grant will support a new initiative, Men Ending Violence Against Women Speaker's Bureau, this program will consist of male volunteers from the community who will reach out to young men and boys to shape positive attitudes toward women and girls. In addition to Union County, the YWCA also serves the surrounding counties of Essex, Hudson and Passaic.
Since 2001, nearly three million used wireless phones have been recycled or refurbished and sold through the Verizon Wireless national HopeLine program with more than 600,000 donated phones being recycled. Verizon Wireless has distributed nearly $10 million in cash grants and wireless service to domestic violence prevention and awareness programs across the country.
Phone donations are accepted at more than 130 Verizon Wireless Communications Stores in the New York Metro area. For store locations and additional information, visit verizonwireless.com/hopeline. For additional information about HopeLine, visit the HopeLine Web site at verizonwireless.com/hopeline.
Verizon Wireless also offers customers a quick and easy way to access professional and confidential help through the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Any victim or anyone looking for information on the issue can dial #HOPE (#4673) from any Verizon Wireless phone to reach the hotline. The call is toll and airtime free.
