First Lady Dianne Bentley Teams Up with Verizon Wireless to Raise Awareness of Domestic Violence
By: Stephen Crews
Updated: July 19, 2012
First Lady Dianne Bentley and executives from Verizon Wireless on Wednesday announced continued efforts to
raise awareness of the issue of domestic violence with the goal of empowering victims and eliminating the violence.
Mrs.
Bentley will be featured in a public service announcement that will
begin airing this week on television stations in Birmingham and
Montgomery.
The public service announcement raises awareness of domestic violence
and encourages people to donate their used phones to HopeLine.
HopeLine
is Verizon Wireless' national cell phone recycling and re-use program.
HopeLine collects no-longer-used wireless devices and accessories
- all models, from all wireless carriers - which can then be
refurbished, recycled and/or sold. Proceeds benefit victims of domestic
violence via cash grants to domestic violence counseling and support
agencies. Also, refurbished phones - complete with 3,000
minutes of wireless service - are provided to local domestic violence
organizations or local government and law enforcement agencies for use
with their domestic violence clients.
"Domestic
violence is an often-overlooked issue that affects every community, so I
have embraced domestic violence awareness and prevention as one
of the causes that I will support as First Lady," Mrs. Bentley said. "I
was excited to discover that Verizon Wireless has a program in place
that gives Alabamians the opportunity to contribute to this important
cause by simply donating your old phone. The
more phones we collect in Alabama, the more we can do to prevent abuse."
In
addition to helping Verizon Wireless spread the word about HopeLine,
Mrs. Bentley has led efforts to collect more than 4,000 phones for
HopeLine
throughout this year. Most recently, on Wednesday, Mrs. Bentley donated
nearly 1,200 phones to the HopeLine outreach. Verizon Wireless
recognized First Lady Bentley with a 2012 HopeLine Hero Award earlier
this year for her efforts on behalf of this cause.
Mrs.
Bentley has also worked with the Alabama Department of Corrections to
have phones that have been confiscated from inmates donated to HopeLine
rather than the phones being destroyed.
"The
Department of Corrections was pleased to help the First Lady in such a
worthwhile cause that, unfortunately, impacts so many Alabamians,"
Corrections
Commissioner Kim Thomas said. "Since learning of HopeLine and Mrs.
Bentley's involvement, our correctional staff has confiscated and is
donating more than 1,500 cell phones confiscated from inmates in our
prisons. By helping with the First Lady's effort to
raise awareness, the staff at the Department of Corrections is directly
helping our fellow Alabamians who are harmed by their experiences with
domestic violence. "
"It
is an honor to work with First Lady Bentley as well as with the many
domestic violence organizations across Alabama that work tirelessly to
provide
assistance to victims and help prevent more Alabamians from being
victimized," said Jonathan LeCompte, president - Georgia/Alabama region,
Verizon Wireless. "We look forward to seeing an increase in phone
donations and, in turn, being able to provide more
grant dollars to those deserving organizations."
Members
of the public are urged to join the donation effort. People can donate
a phone at any Verizon Wireless store or by mail. To print a prepaid
HopeLine mailing label, simply go to www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.
