Verizon West Chapter #25

Chapter donates Toshiba Laptop – A Toshiba Laptop and Office Home & Student 2010 software was recently purchased for the Ventura Home for Veterans.

Click here to view thank you letter.

From left to right: Brenda Manke – Administrator of home, Mary Wellington, Verizon West Chapter President, Tom Creeley – stock clerk and IT person, in wheel chair – Willis Adir, veteran of WWII.

Dear Morrie,Thank you for your contribution of $2664.00 from Verizon TelecomPioneers / Verizon West Chapter to The Dictionary Project. We are happy that you want to participate in the program. Please let us know if you have not received the books within four weeks. We would like to hear how the project turns out. Please send pictures or a story about your project so we can showcase your project on our Web site to share your accomplishments with our visitors. You may email photos or news stories directly to us at wordpower@dictionaryproject.org, or mail them to the address below.If you did not provide school information when you entered your pledge, please contact us as soon as possible to give us the names of the schools or programs where the dictionaries will be donated to the students. This information is a vital part of our record-keeping and analysis of the project.We are pleased that you have joined our efforts to encourage children to use a dictionary so that they will be able to use the English language effectively.If you are paying by check, please forward it along with a print out of this email to:The Dictionary Project
PO Box 1845
Charleston, SC 29402Sincerely,Mary L. French
Director
The Dictionary Project
PO Box 1845
Charleston, SC 29402
wordpower@dictionaryproject.org

ALMON STROWGER MUSEUM EXHIBIT
“Evolution of Communication”
In 2002, Emmett Clary a GTE retiree received an article from the St .Petersburg Times and a note from a fellow GTE retiree Gene Downs. The article was about the poor condition of the historical downtown Greenwood Cemetery in St. Petersburg, Fl. Gene reminded Emmett that Almon Strowger, the inventor of the automatic telephone switch, who had a profound influence on the AT&T dialing network, was buried there in the tall grass. Gene suggested that Emmett get the local TPA Chapter to help maintain the cemetery. Emmett contacted Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon, informing him of the impact Mr. Strowger had on our industry, including the Bell System, and that Verizon should help maintain the Cemetery. Mr. Seidenberg responded and the Verizon Foundation provided a one-time grant assist. view full story

Verzion West Chapter organized and distributed 30 backpacks to three local area shelters. Eleanor Moore, our 2009 Hall of Fame Honoree purchased the backpacks, blankets, bears, cards, crayons and coloring books. The thirty backpacks included a Verizon Dictionary and were distributed by Mary and Jim Wellington to Coalition of Domestic Violence in Oxnard, Interface – Children and Family Services in Camarillo and Many Mansions in Thousand Oaks. Many Mansions also received 40 bus tokens for the women who need to go to work and a laptop computer for shelter use.
The Verizon West Chapter has helped both children and parents who have left abusive situations by providing needed items and plan on continuing this in 2010. Pictured left to right are Toni Plume Grant Writer for Many Mansions, Mary Wellington, Verizon West Chapter Vice President and Elaine Benditson, Vice President, Development Division of Many Mansions.submitted by Mary Wellington, Verizon West Chapter, Vice President

On Friday, January 16th, over 150 dogs were seized from a “puppy mill” in Gold Bar WA. Those dogs were taken to the animal shelter in Everett. The raid was covered by the local paper and news channels. Donations were requested. The dogs were in very bad condition. Some had to be put down. I emailed Karen Stalberger at the animal shelter asking if they had specific needs we could help with. She said the employees and volunteers had been working so many hours since Friday it would be nice to do something for them, and of course food is always good. I told Karen about our group of Pioneers at Verizon and told her I would “rally the troops” and be bringing in homemade goodies on Wednesday. After sending out an email to the Norwesco Pioneer Club distribution list, I started getting questions about donating money as well. I offered to take any monetary donations to the shelter when I delivered the goodies on Wednesday. In total 6 people brought in homemade goodies. And 14 people donated money, and after the Verizon Foundation match (MIP program) that total monetary donation will be $770. All this in just over 48 hours notice. On Wednesday, January 21st, Marie Shaw and I went to the Everett Animal Shelter and met with Karen Stalberger. She was so excited for the goodies because she’d been having trouble keeping that secret from the volunteers, they only knew something good was being dropped off. She accepted the monetary donations and we explained how the Verizon Foundation matching funds works, she had all the info she needs to get that match. The shelter is currently closed to the public. Volunteers and workers have tables set up out in front to answer questions, and take donations. While we were there for maybe 10 minutes the donations just kept coming, it was a wonderful feeling to see the community rise to the occasion. And just FYI…… ARF is the charitable arm of the Everett Animal Shelter. ARF provides when tax dollars cannot. ARF is a 501(c)(3) organization. Volunteers work for ARF not the Everett Animal Shelter. http://everettarf.org/

Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP)Do you volunteer for the PTA? Tutor children or adults? Coach soccer? Raise money for community organizations?The Volunteer Incentive Program recognizes employees’ contribution of time and talent to nonprofit organizations. Under the program, employees are eligible to apply for a grant on behalf of the qualified organization where they volunteered 50 hours or more during the year. The Foundation rewards these employee volunteers with a $750 check for presentation to the designated organization. Employees may request VIP grants on behalf of two separate organizations for a total of $1,500 each year. view poster and links