Virginia Attorney General Judy Jagdmann Joins Verizon Wireless To Award $40,000 In Grants For Domestic Violence Prevention

RICHMOND, VA — Verizon Wireless today joined Virginia Attorney General Judy Jagdmann to launch October's Domestic Violence Awareness Month by donating $40,000 in grants to four Virginia nonprofit domestic violence service providers. The grants will be funded both from the Verizon Wireless HopeLine® phone recycling program and from the Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Wireless.

Attorney General Jagdmann, together with Richmond Police Detective Carol Adams, also presented the company with more than 600 phones collected at the Attorney General's offices across the Commonwealth and through the Richmond Police. The phones will be recycled through the Verizon Wireless HopeLine phone-recycling program to provide future aid to Virginia groups working to prevent domestic violence and to shelter or support victims.

Detective Carol Adams has personally collected thousands of phones to benefit the Verizon Wireless HopeLine program. She's made the donations in honor of her mother, Orine Adams, who died as a result of a domestic violence incident in 1980. This past May, the Verizon Wireless HopeLine program donated $5,000 to the YWCA of Richmond to honor Orine Adams by building a playground for children living in the shelter.

Today's grant announcement included a $25,000 award to the statewide Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance. The Alliance will use grant funds to establish the "Commonwealth Campus Campaign," the first statewide awareness and education campaign designed to reduce risk factors associated with dating violence on college campuses.

In addition, three grantees will each receive a $5,000 award:

• Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley in Radford, VA
• Virginia Poverty Law Center in Richmond, VA
• New Land Samaritan Inns in Lynchburg, VA

"Domestic violence continues to be a major problem in Virginia, just as it is throughout the country," said Virginia Attorney General Judy Jagdmann. "But residents of the Commonwealth shouldn't feel powerless to help. In addition to looking for the telltale warning signs of domestic abuse, citizens can make a difference by donating their used wireless phones to the HopeLine recycling program so victims can receive the support and resources they need to start new lives."

The $5,000 grant to the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley in Radford, Va., will be used to fund an after-school tutoring program for children and youth and a dinner planning program to help women residing at the Center's domestic violence shelter plan nutritious, economical meals. The $5,000 grant to Richmond's Virginia Poverty Law Center will allow the Center to conduct a series of seven trainings across the state, focusing on civil legal issues affecting domestic violence victims. The $5,000 grant to Lynchburg's New Land Samaritan Inns will focus on the prevention of domestic violence by working one-on-one and in group counseling sessions with abusers housed at The Gateway, a Lynchburg shelter which provides rehabilitative services for homeless men in recovery from alcohol and substance abuse.

Verizon Wireless has a longstanding partnership with the Virginia Attorney General's office. In January 2003, Verizon Wireless teamed with then Attorney General Kilgore as well as the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, to launch a statewide wireless phone-recycling program. To jump-start the initiative, Verizon Wireless donated 100 wireless phones with airtime to the Alliance, which are loaned to member domestic violence programs (DVPs) across the state. In turn, the DVPs loan the phones to domestic violence victims so they can call police, 9-1-1 or the shelters' emergency hotline numbers.

"The reason the HopeLine program has been so successful is because of all the many kind hearted people across the state of Virginia who've taken the time to donate a no-longer-used phone," said Patrick Devlin, regional president, Verizon Wireless in Washington, Baltimore and Virginia. "Domestic violence is an epidemic that affects one in three American women during their lifetimes. Imagine what we could do for victims in Virginia if everyone in the state donated their no-longer-used wireless phones to Verizon Wireless' HopeLine program."

As a result of HopeLine and related phone recycling programs the company has organized since 1995, Verizon Wireless has collected more than 2.5 million wireless phones for the benefit of domestic violence victims and advocacy groups. Phones are accepted for recycling at all 1,200 company retail locations across the country. All wireless phone models, batteries and chargers from any carrier are accepted. For store locations and additional information, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.  

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 47.4 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at 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.  

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