Verizon Wireless Celebrates 2nd Year As Official Wireless Sponsor for Aids Walk Arizona

PHOENIX, AZ — Verizon Wireless today announced that it is the official wireless sponsor for the 13th annual AIDS Walk Arizona to be held on Sunday, Nov. 5. As part of its sponsorship, customers who register for the walk by Oct. 25 at any Verizon Wireless store will receive an additional 100 free minutes with any new digital service activation.

More than 100 Verizon Wireless employees will participate in the walk, the largest HIV/AIDS fund-raising effort in Arizona. Proceeds from the event will go to local AIDS organizations including, AIDS Project Arizona, Phoenix Body Positive and A Place Called Home. Participants walking the route will form a human AIDS ribbon through the streets of downtown Phoenix, with a start and finish point at the Phoenix Civic Center Plaza.

"AIDS Walk Arizona encourages our citizens to organize teams and walk to make a difference in the lives of those affected by HIV and AIDS," said Robin Walcott, team coordinator for AIDS Walk Arizona. "The community's participation helps us to continue education, prevention, early intervention and care for thousands of men, women and children."

"Verizon Wireless' corporate team will walk to remember loved ones lost through AIDS," said Jerry Gallegos, president of Verizon Wireless' Desert Mountain region. "Our goal is to reach HIV and AIDS victims to help improve their quality of life."

Verizon Wireless also sponsored a company "casual jeans day" that allowed employees who contributed $5.00 or more to AIDS Walk Arizona to wear jeans for the day.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless communications provider in the U.S. with more than 25 million wireless voice and data customers and nearly 4 million paging customers. The new coast-to-coast wireless provider was formed by the combination of the U.S. wireless businesses of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp --now Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) -- and Vodafone Plc (LSE:VOD; NYSE:VOD). The new company includes the assets of Bell Atlantic Mobile, AirTouch Cellular, GTE Wireless, PrimeCo Personal Communications and AirTouch Paging. The new company has a footprint covering nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population, 49 of the top 50 and 96 of the top 100 U.S. markets. Verizon Wireless, headquartered in New York City and Bedminster, NJ, is 30,000 employees strong. Reporters and editors can find more information about the company in its Media Center on the Web at: http://www.verizonwireless.com/mediacenter.

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