Lexington, Kentucky, Nonprofits Benefit From Verizon Wireless' Hopeline Program

LEXINGTON, KY — Verizon Wireless, through its HopeLine® program, puts the nation's most reliable wireless network to work by turning no-longer-used wireless phones into support for survivors of domestic violence. This year, the company donated $25,800 in cash grants, wireless phones and airtime to Lexington area domestic violence organizations.

A total of 66 wireless phones were donated to the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program and the University of Kentucky Violence Intervention and Prevention Center for use by their survivors, giving them a total of 198,000 minutes they can use over the next year to communicate with family, friends, domestic violence support staff and employers as they rebuild their lives. Additionally, Verizon Wireless donated $4,000 to Chrysalis House to help send children of domestic violence survivors to summer camp and $2,000 to Horses Healing Hearts to help train volunteers who work with domestic violence survivors.

Since 2001, HopeLine's national phone recycling and reuse program has collected more than 5.3 million wireless phones, awarded more than $5.6 million in cash grants to domestic violence agencies and organizations throughout the country. By the end of this year, the company will have donated more than 80,000 wireless phones with 240 million minutes of airtime to survivors and domestic violence organizations across the nation. Over the past four years, Kentuckians have turned in 20,000 phones to Verizon Wireless' HopeLine program.

HopeLine wireless phone donations are accepted at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores in Lexington and across the nation. Verizon Wireless encourages everyone who plans to give a phone to HopeLine to make sure service on that device is discontinued and to erase any personal data on the phone. Phones given to the HopeLine program are refurbished and resold for reuse, or disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.

For more information on Verizon Wireless' HopeLine program, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.  

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 70.8 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 71,000 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.  

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