1-800-THE-INFO Supports 'Rebuilding Together' With a $1 Million Try-The-Service Challenge Grant

NEW YORK - Verizon's free business directory assistance service, 1-800-THE-INFO, announced Friday (April 25) a challenge grant of up to $1million to support the work of Rebuilding Together, a nationwide nonprofit organization that provides free home-renovation services to people in need.

Starting Saturday (April 26), National Rebuilding Day, the free business directory assistance service will contribute $1 to Rebuilding Together and its 225 affiliates for each new caller to 1-800-THE-INFO.  The campaign will continue through May.*

"If you want to do something good for your community, then call toll-free 1-800-THE-INFO and give it a try," said Gary Officer, president and CEO of Rebuilding Together.  "It's a great way to find businesses in your community, and each new caller during the next few weeks will generate $1 to help Rebuilding Together provide needed renovations and modifications so that low-income homeowners can continue to afford to stay in their homes.

"We're excited that a great company like Verizon selected us to support our important mission," Officer said.

Kitty C. Linder, president of Verizon LiveSource and Public Communications, said, "In local communities 1-800-THE-INFO and Rebuilding Together are a natural fit.  Rebuilding Together provides a vital service linking volunteers in local communities to low-income homeowners with a special focus on the elderly, disabled and families at risk. By running this challenge, we're bringing awareness to Rebuilding Together's work and to a convenient directory service that can easily search and find any local business listing for callers."

Verizon LiveSource team members will volunteer in many communities across the country on National Rebuilding Day, as Rebuilding Together affiliates kick off the 2008 season by rebuilding homes in their local communities.

The 1-800-THE-INFO service, which has thousands of local business listings, was launched earlier this month.  Callers hear a brief advertisement and then are able to use the free automated voice-recognition to search Verizon's national directory database.  The automated business search is backed up by live operators to assist callers in obtaining responses to their requests quickly and accurately.  For more information on the service, visit http://www.800theinfo.com/.

* The entire call must be completed through voice recognition system or by operator to qualify; only one call per telephone number is credited for the $1 contribution to Rebuilding Together.

(There is no cost to the caller for the contribution. Call may be placed from either wireline or wireless number.  Not exempt from airtime charges by caller's wireless carrier.)

About Rebuilding Together
Rebuilding Together is the nation's largest nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership and neighborhoods by providing rehabilitation services free of charge to those in need.  Through the support of corporate sponsors, local businesses, and the hands-on work of a quarter-million volunteers, Rebuilding Together rehabs and repairs more than 9,000 homes each year.  The market value of this work is in excess of $100 million annually.  Rebuilding Together responds to the needs of low-income homeowners including families at risk, the elderly and veterans through four specific practice areas: Safe & Healthy Homes, Disaster Recovery & Reconstruction, Veterans Housing, and National Rebuilding Day to ensure that homeowners live in safe, warm and dry homes. Rebuilding Together celebrated the rehabilitation of its 100,000th home in 2006 and has grown to nearly 225 affiliates nationwide since its founding in 1988.  For details, see www.rebuildingtogether.org , or call 1-800-REHAB-9.

National Rebuilding Day
This is Rebuilding Together's annual signature event and is the culmination of a year of planning, evaluating, training, organizing and assembling the largest nationwide group of volunteers - from all walks of life - to repair and restore houses and nonprofit facilities, revitalize entire communities, and make a lasting impression on those families and individuals who are helped.

Verizon LiveSource
Verizon LiveSource is the nation's leading directory assistance provider, employing thousands of operators at call centers across the country and internationally.  LiveSource serves not only Verizon landline customers but also nearly half the wireless industry, where innovative services like text messages with listings forwarded to wireless handsets and directory assistance in Spanish continue to make 411 a vital communications tool.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving nearly 66 million customers nationwide.  Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 235,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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