Verizon Wireless Donates $2,500 To Safe Connections In St. Louis For Domestic Violence Prevention

ST. LOUIS, MO — Verizon Wireless, through its HopeLine® program, has donated $2,500 to Safe Connections, the oldest and largest locally-founded nonprofit in the St. Louis area focused on preventing violence and serving survivors of domestic and sexual violence.  The donation will be used to support specialized counseling and support services for women and teens who have been victimized by domestic violence, sexual assault, rape and/or childhood sexual abuse.

“Verizon Wireless is proud to support Safe Connections and its efforts to prevent domestic violence in the St. Louis area,” said Brendan Fallis, president-Kansas/Missouri Region, Verizon Wireless.

“As we mark Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we are honored to receive this donation from Verizon Wireless,” said Susan Kidder, Executive Director of Safe Connections.  “HopeLine has proved to be an impactful and effective program that continues to support victims of domestic and sexual violence.  This grant from Verizon Wireless will enable us to continue providing innovative violence prevention education programs and life-saving, life-change counseling and support services to survivors of violence who need our help.”

In addition to this donation, Verizon Wireless supports domestic violence agencies around the country through the HopeLine® phone recycling and reuse program.

Since the launch of the HopeLine® phone recycling program in 2001, Verizon has collected more than 8 million phones; awarded more than $10 million in cash grants to domestic violence agencies and organizations throughout the country; properly disposed of nearly 1.7 million no-longer-used wireless phones in an environmentally sound way; distributed more than 106,000 phones with approximately 319 million minutes of free wireless service to be used by victims of domestic violence; and kept more than 210 tons of electronic waste and batteries out of landfills.

For more information about HopeLine® from Verizon or to learn how you can make a difference by donating your old phone, visit www.verizonwireless.com/HopeLine.  If you or someone you know is a domestic violence victim call Safe Connections at 314-531-2003 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 to talk to a counselor. All calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline are confidential.

For more news and stories specific to the Verizon Wireless Midwest Area, visit and subscribe to our blog: http://vzwmidwestarea.com/.

About Safe Connections
Safe Connections is the oldest and largest locally-founded nonprofit in St. Louis focused on preventing violence and serving survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.  Established in 1976, Safe Connections provides essential resources, specialized programs and comprehensive support services for women and teens.  Safe Connections offers no-cost individual and group therapy to survivors as well as crisis intervention services for more than 6,000 callers each year through our 24-hour Crisis Helpline.  Our Project HART relationship violence prevention education program and Guys Groups help teen boys and girls pursue a lifetime of healthy, safe relationships.  For more information about Safe Connections, visit www.safeconnections.org.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network.  The company serves nearly 96 million retail customers, including 90.4 million retail postpaid customers.  Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with more than 75,000 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. 

For more news and stories specific to Verizon Wireless Midwest area, visit and subscribe to our blog: http://vzwmidwestarea.com.

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