Bought A New Phone For Mom, Dad Or Grad? Donate Your Old Wireless Phones To Verizon Wireless' Hopeline Program

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — With Mother's Day this past weekend and Father's Day and graduations around the corner, wireless shopping is in the air. Customers upgrading mom, dad or graduates in the family to one of Verizon Wireless' hot new phones have an option for their old wireless phones — Verizon Wireless' HopeLine^® phone recycling program.

HopeLine accepts wireless phones and accessories in any condition from any manufacturer or service provider, then refurbishes the phones or recycles them in an environmentally sound way. Proceeds from the HopeLine program benefit survivors of domestic violence and non-profit advocacy agencies, providing essential communication tools through wireless phones and wireless services, and financial grants.

Before donating no-longer-used wireless phones, consumers should follow a few simple steps to make the phone donation process quick and easy.

1. Find the Verizon Wireless Communications Store nearest to you. Verizon Wireless accepts phone donations at any of the company's 2,200 Communications Stores from coast-to-coast. Customers can donate their phones as soon as they purchase a new phone or can bring their old wireless phones to any store at any time and donate them to HopeLine.
2. Erase all stored information, including your phone book, text messages and incoming/outgoing phone numbers. As part of the refurbishing process, Verizon Wireless' recycling vendor scrubs the phone of personal data prior to distributing it for re-use, however, it is the consumer's primary responsibility to remove this information from their phones.
3. Make sure the phone has been deactivated and service has been transferred to another phone. If the phone is donated, a new phone number and account will be assigned to it.
4. Bring any phone accessories along with the phone for donating. HopeLine accepts headsets, chargers, phone chargers, spare batteries and all other accessories, in addition to phones.

Verizon Wireless is a recognized corporate leader for its commitment to put the nation's most reliable wireless network to work for victims of domestic violence through the company's HopeLine program. Since HopeLine launched nationally in October 2001, HopeLine has collected more than 3.8 million no-longer-used wireless phones and accessories, and provided more than $3.5 million in donations to local domestic violence agencies nationwide. For more information about Verizon Wireless and the HopeLine program, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline. 

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 60.7 million customers. The largest US wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenues, Verizon Wireless is headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 66,000 employees nationwide. The company 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. 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.  

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