Bell Atlantic Foundation Donates $25,000 for Relief Efforts In Wake of Severe Storms in West Virginia

Bell Atlantic Foundation Donates $25,000 for Relief Efforts In Wake of Severe
Storms in West Virginia

Grants Awarded to American Red Cross, Volunteer West Virginia

June 30, 1998

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Bell Atlantic Foundation today awarded
grants to two organizations to support disaster relief efforts in West
Virginia after the severe storms and flooding of the past few days.

The Foundation awarded $15,000 to the West Virginia Chapter of the
American Red Cross and $10,000 to Volunteer West Virginia, a non-profit
organization that will help distribute disaster relief funds throughout the
state.

"These storms have imposed extreme hardships on many of our customers,
who also are our neighbors," said Dennis Bone, president and CEO of Bell
Atlantic - West Virginia. "We're working hard to restore service as
quickly as possible.

"At Bell Atlantic, however, customer care goes beyond simply repairing
phone service. It means caring for people affected by these storms. On
behalf of Bell Atlantic and its 3,000 West Virginia employees, I'm proud to
further demonstrate our care for our customers and neighbors through
these contributions."

"Bell Atlantic's record as an upstanding corporate citizen is well-known in
West Virginia," said Gov. Cecil H. Underwood. "This support for the Red
Cross and Volunteer West Virginia will be of significant help as we all
work to overcome the latest blow from Mother Nature."

Service Restoral Efforts Continue

Bell Atlantic employees continue to restore telephone service to customers
throughout West Virginia. More than 600 technicians, repair clerks and
other employees are working to repair downed phone lines and flooded
equipment. In addition, Bell Atlantic employees from Maryland, Virginia
and Washington, D.C., have come to help the restoral efforts in parts of
West Virginia.

As of 3 p.m. today, Bell Atlantic employees have restored service to 4,275
customers throughout West Virginia. The company currently has 4,400
repair requests pending in the state. The repair load at this time is
particularly heavy in the following areas: Buckhannon, Clendenin,
Clarksburg, Elkins, Fairmont, Huntington, Morgantown, Parkersburg,
Ripley, Sissonville, Weston and Wheeling.

The Bell Atlantic Foundation supports a variety of projects domestically and
internationally, with an emphasis on new technology applications in education, health
and human services, the arts and humanities, and civic development in the communities
served by Bell Atlantic. For more information, visit www.bellatlanticfoundation.com on the Internet.

Bell Atlantic -- formed through the merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX -- is at the
forefront of the new communications and information industry. With more than 41
million telephone access lines and 6.7 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell
Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services,
market leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory
information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest investors in
high-growth global communications markets, with operations and investments in 23
countries.