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Updates on Iowa storms, Ukraine relief and Women's CoLab.
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On today’s episode of Up To Speed Live, host Diana Alvear shared the following updates:
Iowa storms
Several Iowa communities were devastated by tornadoes and storm damage over the weekend. It’s a good time to remember that our VtoV Employee Relief Fund is Verizon’s internal public charity funded by donations from Verizon employees. VtoV has helped more than 3,400 employees who were displaced from their homes as a result of a personal disaster, such as fire, flood, hurricane or domestic violence. Please consider giving today.
Ukraine talk-and-text relief update
Our hearts continue to be with everyone affected by the situation in Ukraine. Reiterating an update announced last week: We are waiving international calling, texting and in-country data charges for consumer and business wireless customers to and from Ukraine, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia through Thursday, March 10. Residential landline customers will see waived international charges to those countries as well. Please note that customers do not have to take any action to take advantage of these offers.
Want to help? You can text to donate to the following organizations:
- International Rescue Committee: To make a one-time, $25 donation, text UKRAINE to 25383.
- UNICEF: To make a one-time, $10 donation, text UKRAINE to 80100.
- Salvation Army National Cooperation: To make a one-time, $10 donation, text UKRAINE to 52000.
Investor Day 2022
As part of our buzzworthy Investor Day event last Thursday, we announced +play, a unique platform – exclusive to Verizon customers – that will allow users to purchase, discover and manage their favorite streaming services across entertainment, audio, gaming, fitness, music, lifestyle and more, all in one place. Announced +play partners include Netflix, Peloton, Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and many more.
We unveiled a first-of-its-kind partnership with Meta to understand how the metaverse capabilities will become a part of our everyday lives. And we’re also partnering with Celona, an enterprise 5G company, to offer a new, cost-competitive private networking solution to help small and mid-sized businesses overcome security and service challenges.
Watch the full replay of the event here and learn more about five key takeaways from it.
5G Home Internet expansion
Last week, Baltimore became the newest 5G Home Internet city, giving residents a new option using our millimeter-wave technology. We now cover 30 million households and 900 cities with our fixed wireless access offerings. Thank you, Network team!
Women’s CoLab event
You won’t want to miss our International Women’s Day event with Women’s CoLab and Bustle, tomorrow at noon ET. Diana Alvear and Raquel Wilson will be hosting a great webcast with advice, panels and conversations with women executives from Verizon, Chipotle, Walmart and Kimberly-Clark. You can also learn about the history of people who have been fighting for women’s rights and how you can help to break the bias.
Being mindful
This week, our retail colleagues are participating in activities that promote positive mental health. Their activities include assembling mindfulness toolkits that will benefit our global nonprofit partner, Find Your Anchor. These kits will be distributed to students and help them experience the benefits of mindfulness. Great job, everyone!
Grab your tickets for The Weeknd
Do you sing along with every lyric of “Blinding Lights” and “Can’t Feel My Face”? Well, Weeknd fans, the big day has arrived. Starting today, Verizon Up members have exclusive access to a presale of The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn tour. The presale lasts through this Wednesday, March 9. Learn more about the benefits of Verizon Up membership.
V fan: Bob The Drag Queen
Our Up To Speed teammate Adi Wineland had a great conversation with comedian, performer, activist and new Verizon partner Bob the Drag Queen. You may remember Bob from the reality-TV hit “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
“I have been an avid Verizon and Samsung customer for a long time now, so this partnership made a lot of sense,“ said Bob the Drag Queen.
Bob discussed his work with Drag Queen Weddings For Equality, an organization that fights for equal marriage rights. Adi recalled Bob’s powerful words of encouragement aimed at anyone who’s too self-critical: “Focus on one thing you can love about yourself.” That’s something all of us can do.
Enjoy the rest of your day. As Bob and Adi would say: “Before you can be good to others, you have to be good to yourself.”
If you have any questions, email them to live@verizon.com.
