Company Collets No Longer Used Wireless Phones to Assist Survivors of Domestic Violence

Wondering what to do with your old phone now that you've received a new one as a holiday gift? Drop it off at a Verizon Wireless Communications Store and help provide life-saving services to victims of domestic violence and their families. All phones collected will be recycled or sold through the Verizon Wireless HopeLine® Phone Recycling Program and either phones or cash will be donated to non-profit domestic violence agencies. What's more, you'll know you disposed of your phone in an environmentally-friendly way.

"The HopeLine Phone Recycling Program is an easy way for community-minded citizens to support local domestic violence organizations as they help women effected by violence re-build their lives," said Charles Hand, president of Verizon Wireless' New York Metro Region. "Domestic violence does not discriminate. It's all around us in places most of us would never imagine. Citizens who support the program could very well be helping their own friends or neighbors."

Verizon Wireless was the first wireless carrier in the nation to collect and recycle old cell phones and has done so since January 1999 -- first in New York and then across the US. In recognition of the New York State law, effective January 1, 2007, requiring wireless phone retailers to accept and recycle old cell phones, and to encourage even greater participation in HopeLine recycling, Verizon Wireless will donate $5, up to a maximum of $25,000, to local domestic violence shelters and advocacy groups for each wireless phone donated at any Verizon Wireless Communications Store in New York this month.

Domestic violence awareness and education is Verizon Wireless' chief community focus. Since 1999, the company's HopeLine program has collected more than 3.5 million wireless phones, and given $2 million in cash grants and nearly $10 million in wireless phones and service to domestic violence organizations.

In addition to a successful phone recycling program and funding for non- profit domestic violence organizations, HopeLine includes free wireless service and voice mailboxes for survivors, community and corporate awareness initiatives, and a bilingual "Invest in Yourself" program designed to help survivors re-enter the workforce.

For Verizon Wireless Communications Store locations or to order a phone donation kit by mail, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 57 million customers. The largest US wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenues, Verizon Wireless is headquartered in Basking Ridge, NJ, with 60,000 employees nationwide. The company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone . Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

Source: Verizon Wireless