Verizon Wireless Launches Nation's First "UHopeLine" Program At Rutgers University In New Jersey

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Rutgers University President Richard L. McCormick joined Patrick Devlin, president of Verizon Wireless’ New York Metro Region, today to introduce UHopeLine, an expansion of the company's exclusive HopeLine® phone recycling program designed to increase awareness of dating violence, provide aid to domestic violence survivors and encourage college students to help the environment by recycling their no-longer-used wireless devices.

“Rutgers wholeheartedly supports the threefold goals of UHopeLine and is pleased to play a significant part in the rollout of this commendable program,” McCormick said.

Championed by the School of Social Work’s Center on Violence Against Women and Children, Rutgers is the first campus in the U.S. to host the UHopeLine program, which will establish permanent cellphone recycling points on college campuses. UHopeLine accepts wireless devices and accessories in any condition, from any wireless service provider, and then refurbishes or recycles them in an environmentally-sound way. Proceeds from the UHopeLine program will benefit local domestic violence survivors by providing wireless phones and service to victims and financial grants to groups working to end the violence. The program is being launched in October to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“College students experience dating violence at staggering rates and face unique obstacles in accessing services to escape abusive relationships,” said Judy Postmus, director of the Center on Violence Against Women and Children. “Students often have difficulty recognizing verbal and emotional abuse or do not have enough experience in relationships to know that the abusive behavior is not normal or healthy. Giving HopeLine a permanent home on campus will not only raise awareness to these issues but give environmentally-responsible students, faculty and staff a fast and easy way to dispose of their old wireless devices and help domestic violence survivors at the same time.”

Verizon Wireless was the first wireless carrier in the nation to collect and recycle old cellphones and has done so since January 1999, first in New Jersey and then across the U.S. Nationally, the HopeLine program has collected nearly 5.3 million wireless phones, and given more than $5.6 million in cash grants and nearly 80,000 phones with 240 million minutes of airtime to domestic violence prevention organizations.

“Wireless devices are integral to the lives of today’s college students,” said Verizon Wireless’ Devlin. “It is our hope that these on-campus collection sites will encourage students to recycle their phones rather than let them collect dust in dorm room drawers or add to local landfills. We applaud the important work done by the Rutgers School of Social Work and are very proud to launch another HopeLine first here in New Jersey.”

Earlier this year, the company and Rutgers School of Social Work announced the creation of a new $100,000 scholarship fund at the Center on Violence Against Women and Children. Named the Verizon Wireless HopeLine® Scholarship, income generated by the endowment is used to award scholarships, annually, to at least three Rutgers graduate social work students enrolled in the School of Social Work’s Master of Social Work (MSW) specialization on violence against women and children, the first such program in the country.

The UHopeLine program will begin with permanent collection points at three locations on the University’s Central New Jersey campus, with additional collection boxes to be placed in more than 30 buildings across the New Brunswick/Piscataway campuses. Plans call for expansion of the program to include collection points at its Newark and Camden campus locations. Phone donations currently are being accepted at the following primary locations:

• Rutgers' Student Center, 126 College Avenue, New Brunswick
• Bush Student Center, 604 Bartholomew Road, Piscataway
• Douglass Student Center, 100 George Street, New Brunswick

As part of the company’s ongoing HopeLine phone recycling program, wireless devices and accessories also are accepted at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores in New Jersey and across the nation. For store locations and additional information, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 68.7 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 70,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). For more information, go to: 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.

About Rutgers University
Established in 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities. Serving more than 50,000 students on campuses in Camden, Newark and New Brunswick, Rutgers offers more than 280 bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and professional degree programs. The university is home to 27 degree-granting schools and colleges, and more than 150 specialized centers and institutes. For more information about the Center on Violence Against Women & Children visit http://vawc.rutgers.edu.

####