Davenport, Iowa, Area Domestic Violence Survivors Benefit From Verizon Wireless Grant

DAVENPORT, IA — Domestic violence survivors and their children in Scott County will benefit from a $1,500 donation made by Verizon Wireless to Christian Care Domestic Violence Shelter, one of the area’s leading domestic violence prevention and education centers.

According to the Iowa Department of Public Safety, there were 6,439 reported incidents of domestic violence in 2008. The HopeLine® from Verizon grant will help fund support services provided by Christian Care Domestic Violence Shelter, which serves the greater Davenport community.

“Domestic violence is a pervasive and often silent issue that affects more than 30 percent of American women during their lifetime,” said Lori Hillebrand, manger-retail sales of the Verizon Wireless Communications Store at 320 W. Kimberly Road in Davenport, Iowa, in presenting the check to Christian Care Domestic Violence Shelter. “Verizon Wireless recognizes the role we can play in helping organizations like Christian Care Domestic Violence Shelter work to put an end to this destructive force and to provide assistance to victims of domestic abuse.”

“Verizon Wireless is a valued community partner,” said Dr. Elaine Winter from Christian Care Domestic Violence Shelter. “This grant is an investment in our efforts to break the cycle of domestic violence in our community. The funding will help us sustain programs which are critical to our efforts to raise awareness of the issue.”

The $1,500 gift was made possible by the HopeLine from Verizon program, which converts no-longer-used wireless phones into support for survivors of domestic violence.

In addition to the monetary donation, Verizon Wireless also donated 18 refurbished wireless phones to the organization, each with 3,000 minutes of free airtime, to be used by survivors in times of emergency and as they go through the life-rebuilding process.

Since HopeLine’s national phone recycling and reuse program was launched in 2001, Verizon Wireless has collected more than seven million phones, distributed more than 90,000 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 $7.9 million in cash grants to domestic violence agencies and organizations throughout the country.

HopeLine wireless phone donations are accepted at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores across the nation, including the Davenport location. 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 HopeLine program, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable and largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving more than 93 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with more than 79,000 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.

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