Traverse Bay Children's Advocacy Center in Traverse City, Michigan, Receives $5,000 Grant

TRAVERSE CITY, MI — Children in northern Michigan who have experienced physical or sexual abuse will benefit from a $5,000 donation made by Verizon Wireless to the Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center.

The grant will help fund the launch of an on-site counseling program for abused children and their families.

“Since June, our center has served 80 children and their families. With the support of community partners like Verizon Wireless, we can aim to heal the children in our community who have been victimized,” said Brooke Nettz, executive director of the Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center. “Crimes against children are often silent. We are giving a voice back to those children who have been silenced.”

The center provides many services to child victims of sexual abuse and severe physical abuse and neglect. The center protects children by providing prevention and multi-disciplinary intervention in investigations, assessment and treatment of child sexual and physical abuse in an environment that is sensitive, supportive and safe.

“We value the important work that the Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center does in our community,” said John Granby, president, Michigan/Indiana/Kentucky Region, Verizon Wireless. “This grant reinforces our commitment to end domestic violence in all forms.”

The $5,000 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 HopeLine’s national phone recycling and reuse program was launched in 2001, Verizon Wireless has collected more than 8 million phones, distributed more than 106,000 phones with the equivalent of more than 300 million minutes of free wireless service to be used by domestic violence survivors, and awarded more than $10 million in cash grants to domestic violence agencies and organizations throughout the country.

Last year in Michigan, Verizon Wireless and the Verizon Foundation donated nearly $200,000 in cash grants to local domestic violence agencies and shelters.

Verizon Wireless Communications Stores across the nation, including the Traverse City store at 2021 S. Airport Road, accept wireless phone donations year round. Phones given to the HopeLine program are refurbished and resold for reuse or disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. For more information on the Verizon Wireless HopeLine program, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

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About Verizon Wireless in Michigan
In Michigan, Verizon Wireless has more than 2,100 employees and 65 company-owned retail locations in more than 50 cities, including Allen Park, Alpena, Alpine Township, Ann Arbor, Auburn Hills, Battle Creek, Bay City, Brighton, Burton, Canton, Clinton Township, Dearborn, Detroit, East Lansing, Escanaba, Farmington Hills, Fenton, Flint, Fort Gratiot, Gaylord, Grand Rapids, Grandville, Highland Park, Holland, Houghton, Iron Mountain, Jackson, Kentwood, Lake Orion, Lansing, Livonia, Marquette, Midland, Monroe, Muskegon, Northville, Novi, Okemos, Petoskey, Pontiac, Portage, Rochester Hills, Royal Oak, Saginaw, St. Clair Shores, St. Joseph, Southfield, Taylor, Traverse City, Troy, Utica, Warren and Westland.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s fastest and most advanced 4G network and largest and most reliable 3G network, and serves more than 94 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 82,000 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/multimedia. 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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