Verizon Wireless Combats Domestic Violence with Grants Totaling $30,000; Children's Aid Society Among Three Nonprofits to Receive Funding

ORANGEBURG, NY — The Children's Aid Society, serving families in New York City, mainly in the Bronx, Harlem and Washington Heights, and in Westchester County, is one of three nonprofit organizations to benefit from $30,000 in grants announced today by Verizon Wireless to mark October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The grants, $10,000 each, were awarded to fund new or expanded domestic violence prevention and education programs in the New York Metro area and were made possible through the company's HopeLine^SM phone recycling program.

Grant winners were selected from 60 applications received from nonprofit domestic violence organizations in New York and New Jersey last summer in response to a request for grant proposals. Other award recipients are The Suffolk County Coalition Against Domestic Violence in Bay Shore, NY and Women's Crisis Services of Hunterdon County in Flemington, NJ.

The Children's Aid Society grant will support the Parenting Journey, a 13-week therapeutic program designed to help parents affected by domestic violence understand how their past plays a role in parenting style, the cyclical nature of domestic abuse and the need to end it.

"The families we serve are working through extraordinarily difficult issues," said Patricia Grayson, assistant executive director for development at The Children's Aid Society. "The grant from Verizon Wireless will enable us to help parents regain a sense of hope and improve their ability to keep both themselves and their children safe."

Awards were funded by proceeds from the Verizon Wireless HopeLine phone recycling program through which the company collects no longer used wireless phones to be refurbished, recycled or sold to benefit victims of domestic violence. Proceeds from phone recycling in the New York metro area were used to seed the three $10,000 grants.

"All the community-minded citizens who turned in old wireless phones to be recycled and companies that hosted recycling drives on their premises have helped to make these grants possible," said Charles Hand, president of Verizon Wireless' New York Metro Region. "Clearly, the HopeLine phone recycling program is working to support domestic violence prevention and help women re-build their lives."

During the first six months of 2003, nearly 714,000 wireless phones were collected nationwide, generating $1.2 million in monetary and other contributions to domestic violence shelters and advocacy organizations. No longer used wireless phones may be dropped off at all 1,200-plus Verizon Wireless Communications Stores across the country. All models are accepted. For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.  

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless is the nation's leading provider of wireless communications. The company has the largest nationwide wireless voice and data network and 34.6 million customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com.  

The Children's Aid Society
The Children's Aid Society provides a range of services for New York City's most vulnerable children, including adoption and foster care, health services, domestic violence family treatment programs, educational assistance and job training. Located at 38 sites throughout the five boroughs and in Westchester County, the Children's Aid Society is concentrated primarily in the low-income communities of Washington Heights, Harlem and the Bronx.

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