65 New England Domestic Violence Shelters Benefit from Verizon Wireless 'Kids In Need Holiday Drive'

65 New England Domestic Violence Shelters Benefit from Verizon Wireless 'Kids In Need Holiday Drive'

7th Annual Collection Makes Holidays A Bit Brighter For Youngest Victims of Domestic Violence

BOSTON, Dec. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless employees, customers, and community members donated new, unwrapped toys, games and books at Verizon Wireless stores throughout New England as part of the 7th annual Kids In Need Holiday Drive. Each Verizon Wireless store 'adopted' a local domestic violence shelter to which it donated collected items. At the end of the drive, the donations were distributed to 65 domestic violence shelters based in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

"The support our customers and employees give to this drive is incredible," said Ken Dixon, president of Verizon Wireless New England. "Domestic violence prevention and awareness is our main community focus and The Kids In Need Holiday Drive is critical because it directly benefits children living in local domestic violence shelters."

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's South Station managed by Equity Office once again teamed with Verizon Wireless to make it easy for commuters to donate at its terminal in Boston.

Generosity from community members was equaled by New England television and radio stations who partnered with Verizon Wireless to increase awareness of the Kids In Need Holiday Drive. Participating stations included FOX25 and WROR (105.7 FM) in Massachusetts, FOX61 in Connecticut, and FOX23 in Maine.

The 7th Annual Kids in Need Holiday Drive was organized as part of the company's continued support of domestic violence survivors and their families. The Verizon Wireless HopeLine program focuses on putting wireless products and services to work to assist survivors of domestic violence. Through a phone- recycling program, no-longer-used wireless phones (any carrier, any type of phone) are turned into useable phones and financial donations for shelters and domestic abuse programs nationwide. No-longer-used wireless phones may be recycled year round at any Verizon Wireless store.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 63.7 million customers. The largest U.S. wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenues, Verizon Wireless is headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 68,000 employees nationwide. The company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at http://www.verizonwireless.com/. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Verizon Wireless

CONTACT: Michael Murphy of Verizon Wireless, +1-781-932-1213,
Michael.murphy@verizonwireless.com, or David Thomson of Thomson
Communications, +1-978-808-7700, David@thomsoncommunications.com

Web site:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/
http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia

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