Verizon Continues Efforts to Aid Hurricane Survivors

Verizon announced it will support Operation Home Delivery, a project recently launched by Habitat for Humanity to help replace homes damaged or destroyed in the Gulf Coast hurricanes.

“Verizon provided aid to the Gulf Coast states immediately after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Since then we’ve been looking across our business for new ways to contribute,” said Marquita Carter, director of business marketing for Verizon’s Broadband Group.

“By supporting Operation Home Delivery with this three-month program, we are providing resources to pre-build home frames offsite that will be moved to lots in the Gulf area for quick setup, once permanent rebuilding becomes possible.” In addition to the $1 donation for every business DSL order placed from now until New Year’s Eve, Verizon will contribute up to an extra $10,000 a month if the business DSL sales exceed goals.

Verizon Business DSL offers four packages with different connection speeds up to 7.1 Mbps (megabits per second) and a variety of features such as remote access via dial-up, networking, domain name e-mail and much more. The packages are designed to meet the needs of every small to medium-sized businesses.

To date, Verizon has provided more than $12 million to support hurricane relief through the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the NAACP.

Company efforts include dispatching more than 110 Verizon technicians to New Orleans to help BellSouth restore parts of its network, distributing tens of thousands of prepaid calling cards and cell phones along with air time, and providing 24 call centers and nearly 7,000 employee volunteers in support of the Sept. 9 “Shelter from the Storm” telethon.

Habitat for Humanity International, based in Americus, Ga., is an ecumenical Christian ministry that welcomes to its work all people dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty housing. Since 1976, Habitat has built more than 200,000 houses in nearly 100 countries, providing simple, decent and affordable shelter for one million people. Operation Home Delivery is the emergency effort that was recently launched after Hurricane Katrina to help families in the affected areas recover and rebuild. www.habitat.org.