Verizon Honors YWCA of NW Georgia for Father's Day

Staff Report

Verizon Wireless celebrated fathers across Georgia by donating funds to four organizations’ programs designed to give educational and therapeutic support to men in need and promote awareness of family violence issues.

Through HopeLine®, Verizon’s national cell phone recycling and re-use program to benefit victims of domestic violence, the company presented each of the organizations with a $1,000 cash donation over the weekend. The organizations and programs that Verizon Wireless honored for Father’s Day included:

· The YWCA of North Georgia’s Y’s Guys Men’s Committee, which was formed in 2009 to give men a voice against domestic violence and sexual assault. Everett Cebula, a Y’s Guy committee member and member of the Cobb County Police Department, was on hand for the check presentation.

· The Center for Working Families’ Fatherhood Program, which works to assist low-income fathers by connecting them with the tools and support needed to build and restore healthy family relationships. Services include job readiness training, one-on-one coaching, and referrals for comprehensive services such as childcare, training, education and certifications, rental assistance and legal assistance.

· Caminar Latino’s Men’s Intervention Program, which provides family violence intervention classes certified by the State of Georgia that include educational groups focused on domestic violence and substance-abuse.

· North Georgia Cottage’s 1BlueString Campaign, a national awareness campaign that provides educational materials to help male survivors of childhood molestation. The Cottage produces an annual event in Athens, Ga. to support the campaign and draw awareness to the issue.

“We often recognize the effect domestic violence has on mothers, but it’s important to understand that reducing the incidence of domestic violence requires a focus on the whole family,” said Jonathan LeCompte, president of Verizon Wireless’ Georgia/Alabama Region, said in a news release. “We are honored to support these programs that make a difference in the lives of families across Georgia.”

For more than a decade, Verizon Wireless has been committed to the issue of domestic violence through the company’s HopeLine Program. Exclusive to Verizon, HopeLine puts Verizon’s technology and the nation’s most reliable and largest wireless network to work in communities by turning no-longer-used wireless phones into support for victims of domestic violence and helps protect the environment by disposing of wireless phones in an environmentally sound way. Since the program’s inception in 2001, Verizon has awarded more than $21.4 million in cash grants to domestic violence organizations as well as donated more than 180,000 refurbished phones, preloaded with voice minutes and text messages, to victims and survivors. For more information about HopeLine from Verizon, visit www.verizonwireless.com/HopeLine.