Verizon Employees in Washington State Donate $10,000 Worth of Household Items to Domestic Violence Shelters / Collection of Items, in Conjunction With the National Network to End Domestic Violence, Is Part of a Companywide Effort

EVERETT, Wash., May 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Six domestic violence shelters have received nearly $10,000 worth of items donated by Verizon employees at a dozen locations throughout Washington.

Employees in Verizon's landline, wireless and business divisions in Washington joined more than 1,200 volunteers at 485 Verizon locations across the country to participate in a 12-day Shower for the Shelter drive. Employees donated more than $450,000 worth of household and personal care items - surpassing last year's total by approximately 10 percent.

"Verizon employees have a long history of giving back to their communities both through volunteerism and donations," said Lin Fogg, Verizon's director of external affairs. "Organizing a Shower for the Shelter drive for domestic violence survivors is just one way our employees demonstrate their commitment to make a positive impact in their community."

Verizon partnered with the National Network to End Domestic Violence to coordinate the Shower for the Shelter donation efforts.

Shelters that received donations included: -- Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County. -- New Beginnings in Seattle. -- Domestic Violence Services of Benton and Franklin Counties. -- Eastside Domestic Violence Program in Bellevue. -- Domestic and Sexual Violence Crisis Center of Chelan and Douglas Counties. -- Women's Center Inc. in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, supports the advancement of literacy and K-12 education through its free educational Web site, Thinkfinity.org, and fosters awareness and prevention of domestic violence. In 2008, the Verizon Foundation awarded more than $68 million in grants to nonprofit agencies in the U.S. and abroad. It also matched the charitable donations of Verizon employees and retirees, resulting in an additional $26 million in combined contributions to nonprofits. Through Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation's largest employee volunteer programs, Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered more than 3 million hours of community service since 2000. For more information on the foundation, visit http://www.verizonfoundation.org/.

How to Make a Difference

Donating no-longer-used wireless phones to the Verizon Wireless HopeLine(R) program helps survivors of domestic violence. The phones are recycled or refurbished and sold, with the proceeds used to award grants of phones, airtime and cash to nonprofit domestic violence agencies. Any Verizon Wireless Communications Store will accept all makes and models of cell phones and accessories.

Since the October 2001 launch of HopeLine, Verizon Wireless has collected more than 5.6 million phones, preventing those phones from being deposited in landfills. HopeLine has also distributed more than 76,000 phones with more than 228 million minutes of free wireless service to victims of domestic violence and awarded cash grants of more than $6.3 million to organizations working to prevent and end domestic violence.

For additional information on Verizon Wireless' HopeLine program and store locations, visit http://www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

Verizon Communications Inc. , headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 86 million customers nationwide. Verizon's Wireline operations provide converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network. Wireline also includes Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 237,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $97 billion. For more information, visit http://www.verizon.com/.

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