Wireless Week 2012 Leadership Awards: With HopeLine, Verizon has created a hybrid philanthropic/green initiative unlike any other. 

Carriers often get a bad rap. As large profit-driven entities, in command of millions of customers, it's often hard to steer that giant ship in the direction of altruism, let alone be seen by the public as a true ambassador of goodwill. And yet that's exactly what Verizon Wireless has done with its HopeLine initiative.  

HopeLine began in 1995 as part of what was then Bell Atlantic Mobile. In the beginning, the HopeLine program donated voicemail boxes as well as emergency wireless phones for victims of domestic violence living in shelters. Since then, it has evolved into both a cell phone recycling effort, as well as a philanthropic engine that donates to programs that help victims of domestic violence.  

The stats are impressive. HopeLine has collected more than 9 million phones through Verizon Wireless stores and other points nationwide and properly disposed of more than 1.72 million phones in an environmentally sound way. The remaining units are refurbished, funding more than $14.2 million in cash grants for domestic violence organizations across the country. 

On the domestic abuse side, HopeLine partners with organizations such as Hope Campaign, Endabuse.org, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) and the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence, among others. On the recycling side, the program works with the U.S. EPA and ReThink.  

The beginnings of the program are also still intact. The HopeLine program has put nearly 123,000 cell phones with the equivalent of more than 406 million minutes of wireless service for use by victims, survivors and organizations. 

But the program doesn't stop there. In 2002, Verizon Wireless launched #HOPE nationwide, which allows victims of domestic violence to access professional support quickly and confidentially simply by dialing #HOPE from any Verizon Wireless device.

Cameka Crawford, manager of community relations and multicultural communications for HopeLine, says that one of the program’s greatest strengths is it gives anyone a chance to get involved in a very positive way. "Everyone has a wireless phone or a charger or maybe batteries sitting around that they're not using and here's a great way to put those no longer used devices and accessories to work," Crawford says. 

It’s a program aimed squarely at a problem of epidemic proportions. Nearly one in four women, one in nine men and more than 3 million children have been affected by domestic violence.  

Crawford says that cell phone becomes more than just a phone in a crisis – rather, it represents a connection to a safety net. “It puts devices in the hands of victims and survivors and sometimes that really is a link – a link back to family, a link back to friends, a link back to work and sometimes it’s even a link to emergency services,” she says.

This year, Wireless Week is honoring Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine with its Leadership Award, for reminding everyone of the truly amazing potential of technology when it’s put to the right use.