Lexington, Kentucky, Domestic Violence Survivors Benefit From HopeLine From Verizon Grant

LEXINGTON, KY — Domestic violence survivors and their children in Lexington will benefit from a $7,000 donation made by HopeLine® from Verizon to Chrysalis House, Kentucky’s oldest and largest, licensed substance-abuse treatment program for women and their children. The grant will aid survivors of domestic violence who also struggle with substance-abuse, a common problem for women who have dealt with abusive relationships.

The grant will help fund medical and psychiatric care, dental and health exams, educational materials and wellness supplies, including everything from personal hygiene items to laundry detergent, for women who are survivors of domestic violence and are also recovering from alcohol or other drug abuse.

Chrysalis House is a comprehensive, long-term program that has grown over the past 30 years from a six-bed halfway house to a holistic agency providing a continuum of services in multiple Lexington locations. The nonprofit agency serves more than 200 low-income women and their children annually—many of whom have suffered from domestic violence— and has more than doubled the national average rate of success for substance abuse recovery.

“Due to Verizon’s generosity, Chrysalis House is now able to provide high quality substance-abuse treatment and domestic violence counseling services to the women and children we serve,” said Mary Allison Belshoff, Assistant Director of Chrysalis House. “Chrysalis House assists more than 200 women and their families recovering from abuse and drug and alcohol addiction each year. Words cannot express our appreciation.”

This is the second consecutive year that Chrysalis House received a grant from HopeLine from Verizon. Last year, the nonprofit organization was awarded $7,000 for similar purposes.

This year’s gift was made possible by the HopeLine from Verizon program, which converts no-longer-used wireless phones into support for survivors of domestic violence.

Since the October 2001 launch of the HopeLine cell phone recycling program, HopeLine from Verizon has collected more than 7 million phones, distributed more than 90,000 phones with free wireless service to victims of domestic violence, and awarded cash grants of more than $7.9 million to organizations working to prevent domestic violence.  HopeLine from Verizon has properly disposed of nearly 1.6 million no-longer-used wireless phones and kept more than 200 tons of electronic waste and batteries out of landfills.

In Kentucky last year, Verizon Wireless and the Verizon Foundation donated more than $18,500 in cash grants as well as phones and airtimes to local domestic violence agencies and shelters.

HopeLine from Verizon wireless phone donations are accepted at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores across the nation, including the locations at 1895 Vendor Way, 2901 Richmond Road and 3695 Nicholasville Road in Lexington. Verizon encourages everyone who plans to give a phone to HopeLine to make sure service on that device has been discontinued and to erase any personal data on the phone. Phones given to the HopeLine from Verizon program are refurbished and resold for reuse or disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.

“Chrysalis House serves as a critical lifeline for hundreds of area women who, having survived domestic violence, must now begin the hard work of overcoming years of substance abuse,” said Store Manager Lesli Daughetee, who presented the donation to Belshoff during the Nicholasville Road store’s weekly meeting on Friday. “The HopeLine from Verizon program enables consumers to donate their old phones to benefit two great causes—protecting the environment and preventing and raising awareness of domestic violence.”

For more information on the HopeLine from Verizon program, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

About Verizon Wireless in Kentucky
In Kentucky, Verizon Wireless has more than 150 employees and 120-plus locations including company-owned retail stores, indirect agents and national retailers.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable and largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving more than 92 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 79,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit 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.

####