Verizon Wireless Donates Phones to Gateway Battered Women's Shelter to Help Curb Domestic Violence

DENVER, CO — Verizon Wireless and the Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence (CCADV) today jointly announced the donation of 15 phones and a year of service to Gateway Battered Women's Shelter. Gateway is the first shelter to benefit from the comprehensive partnership between the State of Colorado, CCADV and Verizon Wireless that was launched at a news conference with Governor Bill Owens earlier this month. The Domestic Violence Awareness Partnership , the first alliance of its kind in the state, includes the donation of 100 wireless phones and service to women's shelters throughout the state, grants to agencies addressing domestic violence, a phone recycling drive and a domestic violence awareness campaign.

"Since our initial partnership with the Governor and CCADV two years ago, Verizon Wireless has distributed nearly 500 phones to domestic violence organizations throughout the state," said Marni Walden, Mountain Region president for Verizon Wireless. "We're proud to reconfirm our commitment to this effort through our involvement with the new statewide partnership that led to today's donation of additional phones and funding for training and awareness programs."

"Lives will be saved with the distribution of these phones," said Maria Luisa O'Neill, Criminal Justice Program Coordinator for Gateway. "Abused women can use the phones to call for help with the push of a button. That can make the difference between continued abuse or security."

Awareness and education are the first steps in stopping the cycle of domestic violence. To that end, Verizon Wireless has provided a $5,000 grant to the CCADV to produce training materials for their Advocate Training Program and provide education materials for use in high schools and hospitals.

The partnership also arranges for staff members from the Governor's Office and CCADV to conduct a series of "town meetings" across the state The primary focus of these meetings is to identify the major issues facing victims of domestic violence, discuss potential solutions, develop new strategies for dealing with domestic violence and work toward building coalitions to solve these issues.

The partnership's corporate awareness campaign also includes a letter from Governor Owens and Verizon Wireless regional president Marni Walden to 250 businesses providing a fact sheet on domestic and workplace violence and encouraging businesses to display posters --available without cost from Verizon Wireless -- that help victims obtain assistance.

"Domestic violence lowers worker productivity, increases company health care costs and can erupt in workplace violence," said Governor Owens. "Providing this information to Colorado businesses makes our workplaces safer. Employees are more likely to ask for and receive help in an organization that is aware of and knows how to detect domestic violence. Displaying these posters in the workplace provides victims information about a national hotline to call for help."

In support of this partnership, Verizon Wireless Communications Stores in Colorado are collecting old, unused wireless phones through the end of the year. These phones will be recycled and sold with funds going directly to the Verizon Wireless HopeLine^SM program, enabling the company to aid even more domestic violence shelters in the future. In Colorado, collection locations are:

Denver
16th Street Mall
951 16th Ste, Ste 100A
720-946-0102

Cherry Creek Mall
303-321-7138

Ft. Collins
3636 S. College
970-377-2054

Sterling
1321 W. Main
970-521-0850

Arvada
5220 Wadsworth Blvd
303-422-6409

Lakewood
355 S. Wadsworth
720-963-8002

Westminster
5160 W. 120th Ave.
303-439-0557

Greenwood Village, Belleview Promenade
8000 E. Belleview Ave
720-489-1223

Littleton
7735 W. Long Dr.
720-981-3330

Park Meadows
8481 Yosemite
303-708-1353

Cortez
40 East Main
970-564-0192

Boulder/Broomfield
2790 Pearl St.
720-406-5234

FlatIron Mall
303-410-6974

Grand Junction
Mesa Mall
970-257-7611

Durango
2800 Main Street
970-259-7646

Colorado Springs
7222 N. Academy
719-598-9730

Broadmoor Town Sq.
2130 Southgate Rd
719-635-0874

Chapel Hills
1710 Briargate Blvd
719-598-5675

Pueblo
1723 S. Pueblo Blvd
719-566-1102

1716 Hwy 50 West
719-543-2000

About the Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence
The Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence in a non-profit, statewide, membership driven organization whose mission is to eliminate domestic violence in all its forms through comprehensive coordination of services, training, technical assistance, community education, advocacy and funding. CCADV is dedicated to serving as a voice on behalf of abused individuals, their children and the shelters, crisis services and advocates who serve them.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless communications provider in the U.S. with more than 28.7 million wireless voice and data customers. The coast-to-coast wireless provider was formed by the combination of the U.S. wireless businesses of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD), including Bell Atlantic Mobile, AirTouch Cellular, GTE Wireless and PrimeCo Personal Communications. Verizon Wireless has a footprint covering more than 90 percent of the U.S. population, 49 of the top 50 and 97 of the top 100 U.S. markets. The company, headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, is 40,000 employees strong. Reporters and editors can find more information about the company on the Web at http://www.verizonwireless.com.

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