NEW YORK

The Verizon Foundation is partnering with the National Network to End Domestic Violence to launch a nationwide drive in support of domestic violence shelters – and the public is invited to participate.

The foundation’s annual Shower for the Shelter campaign, to be held at 300 Verizon facilities across the country, will provide needed clothing, personal items and household supplies to shelters that serve survivors of domestic violence. Individuals can participate by making a tax deductible online contribution to the National Network to End Domestic Violence at www.nnedv.org/verizon. The campaign runs through May 21.

“Domestic violence affects us all, and all of us must be part of the solution,” said Sue Else, president of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. “Contributions collected through this campaign will go to domestic violence shelters across the country to buy necessities like clothing, diapers and first aid supplies for survivors and their children.”

This is the Verizon Foundation’s fourth annual Shower for the Shelter campaign, and the first to ask the public to join the effort. Since the initiative’s launch in October 2007, Verizon employees have collected more than $1 million worth of household items to benefit shelters that assist survivors of domestic violence.

Raising awareness of domestic violence and aiding in its prevention is a key issue for the Verizon Foundation. In the past three years, the foundation has awarded more than $15 million to nonprofit organizations that assist domestic violence survivors.

Through the Verizon Wireless HopeLine(r) program, more than 7 million no-longer-used wireless phones have been collected and recycled or refurbished to support domestic violence survivors, generating $8 million that has been given to local agencies since 2001.