Verizon donates $60,000 and phone service to aid California wildfire victims
In a move that reeks of opportunism, Verizon Wireless has just announced that they will be donating $60,000 to the California Red Cross. The money will be used to help victims of the recent spate of wildfires. The massive disaster has affected millions, leaving a path of destruction. Verizon seems poised to respond, offering free calling to affected customers in addition to the monetary grant. It’s a thoughtful move, but given the sheer scope of the problem, $60,000 seems a bit low. Not to undermine the importance of charity during times of need, but come on Verizon…you can do a bit better, no?
Don’t want to sound like a Verizon fan-boy, but they do have a long HX with diaster response. They threw up portable towers one day after a tornado and again after a flood in my area. Also donated phones and free service for a time as well.
Given the percentage of the money that gets squandered in these relief situations, I think equipment donations and free usage offers will actually help more than any money they would donate.
60,000 seems sufficient to me, but i hate vzw anyway, i guess they are trying at least
60K almost sounds insulting to me. What were their earning last quarter?
“Greed is Good” – Gordon Gecko
@Dtest5477:
Do you see any other major corporation stepping up to provide for these victims?
You should put your hate aside and applaud ANY help given to those poor people, 60K and equipment is alot more than 0K and none.
Dont take this the wrong way. But most the people i seen on tv from those fires had pretty nice homes and cars. Which I took as they probaly had money and insurance on their property. So I really think they dont care about the money as much as free minutes and portable towers to boast reception in the area to talk to love ones.
OK really? Phone service? Verizon’s going to donate phone service? Wow, that’s really helpful: “Sorry we can’t help to rebuild your house and replace your memories ma’am but here’s discount phone service to aid in finding your family.”
Way to go Verizon, once again you’ve disappointed everybody.
Thank you.
Which is why I dislike the media, don’t believe what you see on the TV screen. Its eye catching to see a 2mill house burn down instead of some common home worth 1/2 a mill in CA.
60k and free phones/service is better than nothing and its always a blessing to give to those in Need.
I think there are some really spoilt people here, including Joshua.
A company donates $60,000 and people scream “exploiting disaster”, yet if they did nothing, you would not have criticized Verizon. Instead, thank Verizon and criticize AT&T, Sprint, etc…
$60,000 + free calling for affected people is a more than generous donation. Sure, the scope of the disaster might be many times greater than that but do you really expect Verizon to cover it all? If several large corporations each donated the “insulting” amount of $60,000, the disaster relief effort would be greatly mitigated.
Of all the people here who are criticizing Verizon, including Joshua, how many of you opened up your own pocket books and donated to the relief effort? Some people are so selfish.
THANK YOU VERIZON!!
So most of you are criticizing Verizon, while other comapnies have given… what, exactly? All of you, as individuals, have given… what?
Ay, I’m with Ryan, some of you guys are selfish.
Ryan, I agree with you. Those were not poor neighborhoods, for the most part.
Let’s see if the two companies that this site is so in love with come up with anything. At this point, I believe, nothing from AT&T or Apple.
Gosh! Only $60,000 that won’t even replace a French chandelier in those peoples home. This is not like Katrina where $60,000 is a lot. These people aren’t even staying in shelters they prefer hotels. Verizon should have know that $60,000 in perspective of 1.5 million dollar homes really isn’t much.
Jeff B. people who live in million dollar homes need cell phone service more than any one. Don’t you see with out cell phone service they would truly be homeless.
Well said Ryan. How about everyone on this blog putting their hands in their own pockets and donating, I bet you couldn’t even get close to $6k. I have made my donation, have you !!
http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_calwildfires&s_subsrc=RCO_ProfilePage_Link&s_src=F7ZWGR00
You guys are ignorant if you think that these people were all rich. Do a little research before insulting so many people.
Wachovia Bank donated $1 million.
Walmart $1 Million
The Walt Disney Co. will donate $2 million, with $200,000 earmarked for the Red Cross and the balance going to volunteer centers and rebuilding efforts
Bank of America donated $500,000 to the Red Cross and $500,000 to local relief agencies
Wells Fargo will donate $250,000 to the Red Cross and another $250,000 to local relief agencies
Verizon donated $60,000 to the Red Cross, and is also providing evacuees with free calling services
Union Bank of California announced a disaster relief program that include loan payment deferrals, reduced rates on short-term equity loans and help recovering financial records. The bank also donated $200,000 to local relief agencies
Comerica Bank announced contributions of $50,000 to the Red Cross and another $50,000 to local relief agencies
Chevron Corp. donated $400,000 to the Red Cross, and $100,000 to local relief agencies, along with 20,000 bottles of water and 11,500 meals
Petco began a 10-day “round-up” program, in which customers can round up their purchases to the next highest dollar, with proceeds benefiting relief efforts. The company has also donated more than $200,000 in products to evacuation centers and animal welfare groups in San Diego County
The Blue Cross of California Foundation donated $50,000 to the Red Cross
The Pacific Life Foundation donated $500,000 to the Red Cross
Toys “R” Us donated $250,000 to Save the Children
Alcoa Foundation donated $50,000 to the Orange County chapter of the Red Cross
BP donated $250,000 to relief agencies, while Arco and am/pm stores plan to ship water, soda, snacks, health and personal aids to shelters and police and fire staging areas.
AT&T Foundation, it’s charitable arm donated $100,000.
I think both AT&T and Verizon need to step up their support.
And yes I donated.
So it seems to me that some of the people in here have slow-moving minds… Jeff
If “rich” people go through a disaster they SHOULD get less money, considering the fact that they’re RICH to begin with and lose property (which, I’m sure, most of them have insurance on considering the amount of wildfires they have)
But when you say “poor” people that lose everything and are stuck living in rinky dink shelters for months should get less money, I miss the logic behind that.
I personally applaud Verizon and other companies making donations to the cause.
People that HAVE more.. NEED less
People that HAVE less.. NEED more
Dtest, that list really says a lot, Thats 16 companies that have donated. Whilst 60k seems paltry compared with the millions of dollars that are being thrown around. It still is money, and it still helps. If every company just donated a little, it would make a huge difference over all. Good job Verizon! Better job Wachovia, Walmart, Disney, etc… But at least they all did something.
Its the thought that counts, right?
I agree that something is better than nothing, absolutely.
Its not the thought that counts though. Token gestures are not the same as donations that will help.
And again people, these are not all rich people. Many of these fires are way out of towns, those are not rich people. You see the rich people that live in the hills outside of cities, that a small % of these people.
Plenty of middle class homes burned to the ground, should they get less help because a rich neighborhood 100 miles away also burned? I dont think so.
HP Donated 2 Million plus they are matching employee contributions upto 1.5 Million.
When one considers the cost of what Verizon will be putting out in “free service for the victiams” it makes $500,000 seem small. Consider this. Each users bill might be averaging $90 a month (it’s Cali they live on the phone). They are using their wireless handset for EVERY CALL. The usage and the cost of the service goes through the roof. A bill might now be $300 to $500. Lets now say they have 100,000 customers. with a average bill of even $100 dollars ( I would assume that would be on the low side) with all the calls. Your looking at a cost far far greater then what anyone else has given. Now things look a bit different. See if anyone else is putting millions and millions of dollars on the line. Put your money where your mouth is Corp America. Buck up some doe and help out.
Peace out.
Sprint Nextel Corp. Donated $50k To the Red Cross, and free calling to Evacuees. We All know That Verizon is in much better shape than Sprint Is right now. Sorry I can’t post a link I’m Browsing from my phone.
Any amount of free service or money from a corporation is appreciated. They server one purpose, and only one purpose, to earn a profit for their shareholders. Giving money gets you a good amount of PR and a tax break, but please don’t make it sound like they ‘owe’ you anything. Investors want a dividend and that is the reason a publicly traded corporation is in business. Look in the mirror and find out what percentage of your ‘profits’ you give to charity. We hear about San Diego, but what about all the other causes they donate too? Do you give 10% of your ‘profits’ to charity?
Give VZW a break, and say thank you. They owe you nothing.
Jeff F. would you feel the same way if we were talking about Exxon/Mobil? Any company that makes tremendous profits should donate when their customers are in a natural disaster. Just my opinion.
Sprint donated $50k To the Red Cross, and free calling to the evacuees. We all know that Verizon Is in much better shape than Sprint is in right now. Sorry I don’t have the link, I’m posting from my phone.
VZW just paid 1 Million to the state of NY for false advertising ! AG’s office collected bigtime and now there advertising campaign for unlimited data is being re-written, for all of you that think you have unlimited data, you mite want to call the CS rep and find out for sure.
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2007/oct/oct23a_07.html
As for California victims, donated and hope they catch the arsonists that set the fires.