Verizon Wireless Launches Ninth Annual ‘Kids In Need’ Holiday Drive

Toys, Games, Books Being Collected for Distribution to Local Domestic Violence Agencies throughout New England.

WILMINGTON, MA — To make the holidays a little brighter for children whose families are being helped by domestic violence agencies, Verizon Wireless is conducting its ‘Kids In Need’ Holiday Drive for the ninth consecutive year at its Communications Stores throughout New England.

From November 16th through December 15th, stores across Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont will each ‘adopt’ a local domestic violence agency and will serve as collection points for new, unwrapped toys, games, and books for children ranging in age from infants to teens. In addition, Boston’s historic Quincy Market in Faneuil Hall will serve as a central collection point for Eastern Massachusetts starting November 9th. Verizon Wireless has organized this outreach as a part of the company’s continued support of survivors of domestic violence and their families via its HopeLine® program.

“One in three women reports being abused at some point in her lifetime, but it’s not just these women who are victims of domestic violence,” said Ken Dixon, president of the New England Region for Verizon Wireless. “Children all across New England are affected, and while domestic violence agencies work overtime to ensure their safety and help them to start over, oftentimes these families are left with just the bare essentials. The Kids in Need drive helps to provide a brighter holiday season for the youngest victims of domestic violence, through providing the toys, books and games that many children throughout New England are able to take for granted.”

Media partners for the drive are Clear Channel radio stations WERZ, WHEB, WSKX, WQSO, WGIN and WMYF in New Hampshire and 920 WHJJ-AM and B101 (WWBB-FM) in Rhode Island, as well as WDEV in Vermont.

The Kids In Need Holiday Drive is one component of the Verizon Wireless HopeLine program, created to put wireless products and services to work to prevent domestic violence and raise awareness of the issue. Today, the multi-faceted program includes a wireless phone recycling program (accepting no-longer-used wireless phones - any make or model, from any wireless carrier), financial support for regional and national non-profit domestic violence organizations, community and corporate awareness programs, and partnerships with agencies, professional sports teams, law enforcement, educational institutions and corporations nationwide. No-longer-used phones can be donated to HopeLine at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores year-round.

Since 2001, when phone recycling and reuse became key elements of HopeLine, wireless customers have donated nearly 6.5 million old phones to the program. As a result, Verizon Wireless has distributed approximately $7 million in cash grants and more than 80,000 phones, with more than 228 million minutes of free wireless service, to domestic violence prevention agencies and organizations throughout the country for use by victims of domestic violence. Through HopeLine’s recycling efforts, more than 1 million no-longer-used wireless phones have been disposed of properly; more than 170,000 pounds of batteries have been recycled; and more than 200 tons of electronics waste and batteries have been kept out of landfills.