VERIZON WIRELESS PRESENTS GRANTS TO ALABAMA DOMESTIC VIOLENCE NON-PROFITS IN CULMINATION OF HOPEWEEK

First Lady Dianne Bentley Recognizes Sorority Winners of Grant Competition

MONTGOMERY, ALA. – Verizon Wireless today awarded grants of $2,500 each to domestic violence agencies in Opelika and Montgomery as part of a competition involving sororities across Alabama during HOPEWEEK, a domestic violence awareness initiative organized by Verizon and the Alabama Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ACADV).

Auburn’s Alpha Chi Omega chapter, which adopted the Domestic Violence Intervention Center in Opelika, and Alabama State’s Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter, which picked the Family Sunshine Center in Montgomery, delivered the most signatures and phones as part of the HOPEWEEK competition. During HOPEWEEK, participating chapters of the two sororities at universities and colleges across Alabama collected more than 7,500 signatures for an online cause statement and also collected cell phones for HopeLine®, Verizon’s phone recycling program that raises funds for domestic violence awareness and prevention.

Representatives of each sorority chapter were invited to today’s luncheon with First Lady Bentley, a Verizon Wireless 2012 HopeLine Hero Award winner for her support of and efforts around domestic violence awareness and prevention. Officials with Verizon and ACADV also attended the luncheon.

“Every day, families across Alabama experience the harmful effects of violence in the home,” First Lady Bentley said. “I was proud to be a part of an effort that brought together hundreds of young women in Alabama to take action against this epidemic. They are an inspiration to us all.”

“First Lady Bentley’s support coupled with the efforts of the sorority chapters helped make HOPEWEEK a success and drive awareness of the issue of domestic violence here in Alabama,” said Jonathan LeCompte, president of the Georgia/Alabama region for Verizon Wireless. “Verizon was proud to be part of this effort.”

Alpha Chi Omega and Alpha Kappa Alpha chapters from 14 Alabama universities and colleges participated in the HOPEWEEK grant competition. Besides Auburn and Alabama State, the schools were the University of Alabama, Alabama A&M University, Auburn University at Montgomery, Birmingham-Southern College, Samford University, Talladega College, Troy University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the University of Montevallo, the University of North Alabama and the University of South Alabama.

HopeLine from Verizon Wireless collects no-longer-used wireless devices and accessories to be refurbished and recycled and/or sold with all proceeds benefiting victims of domestic violence. Since launching the program in October of 2001, Verizon has funded more than $14.2 million in cash grants for domestic violence organizations across the country and distributed more than 123,000 HopeLine phones.

Safe American Plan

As you know, a number of east coast states recently had their citizens and property devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, as they continue to deal with the aftermath of this horrific hurricane, matched only by Katrina in the enormity of death and destruction it has left in its path.
Safe America’s ‘Text First. Talk Second’™ is good for everyone to know so that they can reach out to loved ones in situations like these. However, the basic premise of everyone needing to be their own first responder is the most important lesson that is unfortunately being played out in several coastal areas right now.
With the information from the National Weather Service, we often have at least some warning of what is coming our way. Given this, it would be beneficial to learn from Hurricane Sandy the importance of getting information from resources like http://www.safeamericaprepared.org/programs-a-toolkits/toolkits/76.html and http://www.ready.gov/basic-disaster-supplies-kit and taking a few moments to check out the lists of items to have on hand for situations like weather emergencies.
Safe America is currently conducting its March to 2 Million Program that has the goal of having 2 million people pledge to drill by the end of the year, with monthly increments being counted. To pledge only takes a few moments of filling out your information including the type of drill (texting, evacuation, shelter in place) at www.safeamericaprepared.org/pledge.
For those of us in Alabama, we experienced our own disaster last April. I encourage everyone to get a plan together and know what you will do if an emergency situation arises.
Be safe!

Alabama School of Fine Arts



First Lady Dianne Bentley visited the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham last week to learn more about the programs that they offer to students. She was impressed with their innovative learning styles and all of the arts available. She got to listen to their choral department sing, got to view the labs in their math and science department, and got to stand in on the dance classes. She also got to speak with students in the creative writing department as they critiqued each other's latest short story. The visual arts students have their own workspace where they create pieces for their senior portfolio and gallery. Their art decorates not only this studio but the halls throughout the school. The final stop was in the new theater where students were rehearsing the final curtain call for their upcoming play. The theater allows students to get experience before entering the work world and gives them credits for their acting card.

 

This public school has spots for three hundred and fifty students. They have places for students to dorm and have students that just come for the day. Every student who enters the doors of this school is uniquely talented and so are the professors that teach them. This is another great treasure we have in the state of Alabama.

 

 

 

A Day in Sylacauga

First Lady Dianne Bentley spent a day touring the town of Sylacauga and meeting its people. She started her day at Pinecrest Elementary where third through fifth graders attend class. After reading one of her favorite books to the third grade students, she toured the school. She was able to stop by and visit with some fourth graders studying Alabama History. They asked a lot of great questions and impressed the First Lady with all that they already knew. She also visited a fifth grade class who gave her a quilt for her Blankets with a Blessing Project.

After touring the school, the First Lady went to tour the Bluebell Factory. She is proud to support Alabama and all of the products it produces. She toured the plant, met the staff, and got to taste ice cream off of the line. Although ice cream almost ruined lunch, she stopped by Marble City Grill for lunch.Their quesadilla is on the 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die list, so the First Lady wanted to check it off.

The lunch place was downtown so before traveling to the next school, Mrs. Bentley took time exploring some of the local shops. At 1:30PM she arrived at Indian Valley Elementary where she was greeted by a library full of kindergartners. The Mayor, Superintendent, and the Police Chief stopped by too. The First Lady spoke to students and read to them before taking a tour of their school.

The last stop of the day was to view the Imery-Gantt Quarry Observation Point. This is the site where Sylacauga marble is retrieved. The parking lot was filled with white marble rocks instead of typical gravel and the water in the quarry was a bright blue.

Alabama is full of great towns to explore with friendly people at every stop. First Lady Dianne Bentley is thankful for everyone she met while spending time in Sylacauga and is looking forward to visiting another Alabama town soon.

Highland Avenue Elementary

First Lady Dianne Bentley visited every class at Highland Elementary School this morning as she continues to promote reading through Alabama.

This school is one of Alabama's torchbearer schools. These are Title I schools that excel academically and set testing records. Their students have great attitudes and manners that reflect in not only their school activities but also in their daily lives.

Thank you to Ms. Kornegay, the principal, for your hospitality, and to the students and teachers for your time.

Although this school is one hundred and ten years old, their decorations and colors make it a lively learning atmosphere. The walls are full of creativity and the classes full of learning!

Donation to HopeLine with Prattville Christian Academy

PRATTVILLE –Prattville Christian Academy’s Key Club has been very busy. On Thursday, October 4, the Key Club Sponsor, teacher Morgan Cook, held a school wide assembly to announce the  PCA Key Club  needed to collect as many used cell phones as possible to donate to Verizon Wireless for the HopeLine project. The members placed collection boxes throughout the school, and within a week PCA students and staff  collected over 200 cell phones  to donate to HopeLine for  victims of domestic violence. HopeLine is an initiative sponsored by Verizon Wireless, which  collects wireless devices and accessories that are no longer used.  The phones and accessories can be refurbished, recycled and/or sold, with phones and proceeds benefiting victims of domestic violence through grants and the donations of wireless phones and services.

First Lady Dianne Bentley was  at Prattville Christian Academy on Friday, October 12  to join members of the Key Club and donate used cell phones to HopeLine. As an advocate for domestic violence victims,  Mrs. Bentley has led various efforts to collect hundreds of cell phones for HopeLine throughout the year. Combined with the phones collected by PCA,  over a thousand phones were donated to Verizon and accepted by the Verizon representative Marcus January.

PCA Key club President Lauren Davis said, “ The PCA Key Club is a service organization, so  we are all  excited to be a part of this effort that exemplifies serving the community through helping victims of domestic violence.”  Morgan Cook was very proud of the effort and results of the phone drive, and said, “ I am really proud to be a part of this project, and we truly appreciate the support of Mrs. Bentley’s office. Her dedication to the HopeLine project inspired us all.”

Read for the Record

One of the best parts about being First Lady is getting to visit schools and meet the students and faculty. Today was Read for the Record Day and Mrs. Bentley had the chance to meet with and visit two schools. Both schools were very welcoming and enthusiastic about her visit and seemed to really enjoy this year's book, Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad.

Mrs. Bentley said that "we teach children to read, but we need to teach them to love to read." As a mother and grandmother, she has always encouraged a love of reading and as First Lady she hopes to spread that to all youth in Alabama.

Thank you to Dannelly Elementary and Flowers Elementary for opening your doors and hearts for our visit.