Eastside Domestic Violence Program Presents 2002 ``Working to End Domestic Violence'' Award to Verizon Wireless.

News Editors & High-Tech Writers

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 2002

Annual Safe Passage Luncheon Raises More than $75,000 to Aid Victims

of Domestic Violence

Eastside Domestic Violence Program (EDVP) Annual Safe Passage Luncheon held Friday, Oct. 11, 2002 at the Hyatt Regency, Bellevue focused on "Domestic Violence and the Workplace."

The event recognized key people working on the eastside to save lives and make a difference in the community. More than 370 concerned community leaders and business professionals attended, and raised $75,945 that will be used to directly aid victims of domestic violence.

The luncheon was chaired by Rob McKenna and sponsored by Morgan Stanley. EDVP's 2002 Award for Work to End Domestic Violence went to Verizon Wireless for its nationwide awareness campaign to help victims seek assistance and encourage their employers and co-workers to help them.

Verizon Wireless awarded EDVP a HopeLine Grant of $25,000 for the 24-hour Crisis Line, a gateway for numerous victims to services. "We at Verizon Wireless are proud of our domestic violence prevention efforts in Washington and are pleased to expand our contribution by taking new action this year to lessen family violence in our community," said Kelley Kurtzman, Northwest Region president.

"I am also pleased to announce that Verizon Wireless is donating 50 wireless phones and one-year's worth of free service to the EDVP this year. The phones will be distributed to women who have left their abusers and will enable these women to make and receive calls for their own safety and to begin rebuilding their lives."

Kirkland Police officers Phil Goguen and Donna Rorvik talked about their efforts in starting the Family Violence Unit at Kirkland PD and training other police departments throughout Washington. Julie Anderson and Rev. Nash spoke about their personal experiences with domestic violence and its effects on co-workers and an organization.

EDVP executive director, Linda Olsen also addressed what EDVP is doing to end domestic violence, noting collaborative efforts with cities and Partners for A Healthy Community.

Fact Sheet

About the Eastside Domestic Violence Program

Eastside Domestic Violence Program (EDVP) is Washington's largest domestic violence service provider, with two confidential shelters, an extensive safe home network, a 24-hour Crisis Line, support groups, special programs for children, a Community Advocates Program that links families to police, the courts, and local services, and extensive public outreach and training programs.

Further information about EDVP is available at www.edvp.org. Donations to EDVP can be sent to P.O. Box 6398, Bellevue, Wash. 98008.

About the Verizon Wireless HopeLine(SM) Program

Through HopeLine, the company's exclusive phone recycling program, Verizon Wireless collects no-longer-used wireless phones in any condition to benefit domestic violence survivors here in Washington, and across the country.

The phones are refurbished or recycled in an environmentally sound way, with proceeds used to purchase wireless handsets for use by victims of domestic violence and for donations to non-profit domestic violence advocacy organizations, such as the Eastside Domestic Violence Program.

Domestic Violence Statistics 

-- Domestic violence costs companies $3-5 billion annually due to lost work time, increased health-care costs, higher turnover and lower productivity (Bureau of National Affairs).

-- Workplace homicide has tripled in the last decade and has become the leading cause of workplace death for women. (U.S. Dept. of Justice)

-- Husbands and boyfriends are responsible for 13,000 acts of workplace violence each year. (U.S. Dept. of Justice)

-- Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime.

-- Heise, L., Ellsberg, M. and Gottemoeller, M. Ending Violence Against Women. Population Reports, Series L, No. 11., December 1999

-- Nearly one-third of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives, according to a 1998 Commonwealth Fund survey.

-- Thirty percent of Americans say they know a woman who has been physically abused by her husband or boyfriend in the past year. -- Lieberman Research Inc., Tracking Survey conducted for The Advertising Council and the Family Violence Prevention Fund, July

-- October 1996

-- Only about one-seventh of all domestic assaults come to the attention of the police. Florida Governor's Task Force on Domestic and Sexual Violence, Florida Mortality Review Project, 1997, p. 3.

-- 88% of victims of domestic violence fatalities had a documented history of physical abuse. Florida Governor's Task Force on Domestic and Sexual Violence, Florida Mortality Review Project, 1997, pp.46-48, tables 14-21.