Verizon Wireless and Packers connect to support domestic violence prevention

If you’ve been to a Packers home game this year, you may have noticed there’s an effort underway to fight domestic violence through a simple method – collecting unused cell phones.
 
Verizon Wireless and the Green Bay Packers are running a seasonal campaign called “Protection is the Name of the Game,” which ties into a national effort by Verizon called HopeLine, which provides cell phones to domestic violence victims.
 
Here, the cell phones, collected not only at Lambeau field, but through a traveling bus campaign coming to the U.P. later this fall, go to Wisconsin and Upper Peninsula domestic violence shelters, including those in Calumet and Iron Mountain.
 
The campaign also includes financial donations from Verizon and the Packers to domestic violence organizations, and a widely-aired public service announcement featuring Green Bay Packer Jordy Nelson and his wife, Emily, which began in early October.
 
“Verizon Wireless is committed to supporting those affected by domestic violence,” says T.J. Fox, regional president for Verizon Wireless. “Statistics show that nearly one in four American women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. Through this campaign with the Packers, we hope to take vital steps toward ending the cycle of violence by educating the general public on this pervasive national epidemic.”
 
The program is not new to Packers fans; in 2010, they donated 767 wireless phones to seven shelters in Wisconsin and the U.P.  Batteries and accessories also are accepted. What happens to the phones? Newer ones are refurbished and given to domestic violence survivors or shelters, for future use, or, sometimes they are sold to purchase newer phones. Those that are too old for refurbishing or sale are recycled, and still qualify for the matching funds provided by Verizon. Each phone donated draws a $10 donation from the national wireless company. In the U.P., those donations will go to the Barbara Kettle Gundlach Shelter Home for Abused Women, Inc. in Calumet and the Caring House, Inc. in Iron Mountain.
 
The campaign is in support of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is October. And if you can’t make it to a Packers game, you still can donate phones at any local Verizon store.
 
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: T. J. Fox, Verizon Wireless