I always like to spread a little bit of good news - so here it is straight from the press release:
Eight San Francisco Bay Area Organizations Receive Support for Their Efforts in Domestic Violence Prevention and Awareness
WALNUT CREEK, Calif., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- San Francisco Bay Area women affected by domestic violence will benefit from $40,000 in donations from Verizon Wireless to organizations that focus on domestic violence prevention and awareness in the Asian-American community. Eight local organizations will be awarded grants from the company's HopeLine® phone recycling program: Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI), Asian Women's Shelter, Cameron House, Chinese Community Health Resource Center, Korean Community Center of the East Bay, MAITRI, Narika and Vietnamese American Community Center of the East Bay.
The eight recipient agencies will use the HopeLine funding to support new and existing domestic violence prevention and support programs such as an emergency shelter, youth peer counseling, transitional housing and in-language staffing support.
"Asian Americans for Community Involvement runs one of a handful of domestic violence shelters geared toward the Asian-American community in the U.S.," said Teresa Yu, domestic violence program manager of AACI. "This generous grant from Verizon Wireless will allow us to continue providing culturally appropriate services that target the unmet needs of Asian women and their families looking to live free of violence."
The grants are part of Verizon Wireless' HopeLine program, which puts wireless services and equipment to work to assist victims of domestic violence. HopeLine's national phone recycling and reuse program collected nearly 1.13 million wireless phones in 2008 and has collected more than 6 million wireless phones since 2001. In the past two years through this program, Verizon Wireless--along with the Verizon Foundation--has donated more than $435,000 in cash grants, phones and airtime to shelters and other organizations in Northern California that work to support victims of domestic violence and their families.
"I encourage everyone to dig through their closets, ask friends and family members for their used cell phones and accessories, and donate them to HopeLine," said Kevin Zavaglia, region president for Verizon Wireless. "A simple phone donation can make a lasting impact on the lives of domestic violence survivors right here in the San Francisco Bay Area."
HopeLine wireless phone donations are accepted at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores across the nation. Verizon Wireless encourages everyone who plans to give a phone to HopeLine to make sure service on that device has been discontinued and to erase any personal data. Phones given to the HopeLine program are refurbished and resold for reuse, or disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.
For more information on Verizon Wireless' HopeLine program, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.
