BEAVERTON, Ore., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon is stepping up with a $10,000 grant to assist residents of Vernonia forced from their homes during the recent flooding in the Columbia County community.
"When people are in trouble, we want to help," said Verizon's Northwest Senior Vice President David S. Valdez. "We've worked hard to get phone service restored; now it's time to help the community with its recovery efforts."
Verizon is also providing flood victims with a range of free calling services - from wireless phones to automatic call-forwarding - to help them stay connected during this time of crisis.
The Verizon Foundation will donate $10,000 to the Columbia Flood Victims Unmet Needs Fund in Vernonia.
"We appreciate all of the help Verizon is providing our community, and this money will go a long way to helping people get their lives back to normal," said Columbia County Commissioner Tom Hyde. "The work Verizon's employees are doing here to help people stay connected is second to none."
Meanwhile, Verizon has restored most landline service to the community after the company's central office was flooded Monday evening (Dec. 3). In addition, Verizon Wireless has a 42 ft. cell-on-wheels trailer, which reinforces the company's wireless network capabilities in the community. Verizon Wireless has made 75 wireless phones available for use by emergency responders, community leaders and others involved in guiding the community recovery process.
Verizon is encouraging customers to limit non-emergency calls to free up network capacity for emergency agencies and operations. For wireless customers, text messages are an effective way to get messages through with a smaller demand on the network.
Verizon Communications Inc. , headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving 63.7 million customers nationwide. Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network. A Dow 30 company, Verizon has a diverse workforce of nearly 238,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $88 billion. For more information, visit http://www.verizon.com/.
