Verizon Wireless HopeLine Drive To Benefit McAllen, Texas, Domestic Violence Survivors

Verizon Wireless and Mujeres Unidas Partner With the City of McAllen to Raise Awareness of Domestic Violence.

MCALLEN, TX � Verizon Wireless is launching a HopeLine� drive across the Rio Grande Valley to collect no-longer-used wireless phones and accessories to benefit victims of domestic violence as part of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. In support of the cause, the city of McAllen in conjunction with Verizon Wireless and Mujeres Unidas has proclaimed October, HopeLine Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

McAllen residents are encouraged to drop off their phone donations at their local Verizon Wireless store throughout the month of October and the remainder of year. The Verizon Wireless HopeLine program accepts wireless phones, batteries and accessories in any condition from any carrier at its Communications Stores nationwide. For survivors of domestic violence, a wireless phone can be a vital link to emergency or support services in a time of crisis or a reliable, safe connection to employers, family and friends.

Domestic violence is an issue that impacts every community. Texas generates the second highest volume of calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline of any state. Donating old phones to HopeLine will assist local domestic violence shelters and advocacy agencies, such as Mujeres Unidas, working to end the cycle of abuse in the Rio Grande Valley.

Phones given to HopeLine that can be refurbished are sold for reuse, and those that are not salvageable are recycled in an environmentally sound way under a zero landfill policy. Proceeds generated from the sale of the refurbished phones are put toward wireless phones and service for survivors of domestic violence as well as financial grants to non-profit domestic violence organizations.

Since October of 2001 when Verizon Wireless launched HopeLine, its national phone recycling and reuse program, the company has collected more than 6.5 million no-longer-used wireless phones and turned them into nearly $7 million in cash grants to support domestic violence victims. For more details about HopeLine visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.