Verizon answers the call in county

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The holidays came early for nine Oakland County nonprofits Dec. 8, as Verizon Wireless announced nearly $120,000 in grants.

“This truly was a Christmas present wrapped up in a big bow,” said Judy Lindstrom, president of the Oakland Literacy Council, based in Bloomfield Hills.

Verizon Wireless gave the organization $40,000 to assist with its technology resource center, to promote and supplement the literacy skills of adult students.

“Verizon has just been wonderful to us, and for us,” Lindstrom said, noting Oakland Literacy Council is the only literacy nonprofit in the county.

She said the need is there, citing a 34-percent illiteracy rate in the city of Pontiac alone.

“People look at Oakland County and say illiteracy doesn’t happen in Oakland County,” she said. “Illiteracy doesn’t stop at Eight Mile, it continues.”

Michelle Gilbert, public relations manager for Verizon’s Michigan/Indiana/Kentucky region, announced the grants at a JARC group home on Minglewood in Farmington Hills.

JARC, provider of community-based Jewish residential services for adults with developmental disabilities, has 20 group homes in Oakland County.

“This is the first ‘green’ home in the nation for people with developmental disabilities,” said Rick Loewenstein, of JARC. “First and foremost, we built it around the people who live in this home … then, we made it ‘green.’”

He was pleased to host Thursday’s press conference in the home.

“When was the last time you attended a press conference at a house?” he said.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who has called many a press conference in his time as an elected official, was on hand to thank Verizon for its charitable contributions that will help maintain the high quality of life in Oakland County.

Patterson said he knows how generous and important the county’s corporate citizens are in championing causes and supporting nonprofits. He started two programs in recent years that couldn’t be funded with taxpayer dollars — the Brooksie Way half-marathon fundraiser and the pedometer program for third- and fourth-grade students.

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