SEATTLE, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- With the after-effects of Hurricanes
 Katrina and Rita still wreaking havoc in many American's lives, and images of
 the Pakistan earthquake in the nightly news, individuals and businesses both
 public and private are choosing charitable gift-giving this season.
     Community Voice Mail, http://www.cvm.org a grassroots charity that
 provides phone numbers and voice mail to the homeless and hurricane victims in
 37 cities and 19 states, has created a fun and novel way for individuals and
 businesses to participate in charitable giving for the holidays.
     "We hope this holiday that instead of going on a spending spree, shoppers
 will go on a giving spree," says Patricia Bonnell, Community Voice Mail's
 development director.
 
     * Individuals can send holiday Ecards to friends and family for
       only $7 apiece. This electronic "stocking stuffer" gift supplies
       one hurricane victim or homeless person with voice mail for one
       month -- enabling them to connect to hope and loved ones at a time they
       need it most.
 
     * Businesses can upload their email list and send clients an Ecard holiday
       acknowledgement OR choose an engraved insert to send alone or place
       inside their corporate Christmas cards.  http://www.cvm.org has details.
 
     * The technology that makes the Ecard program possible is being donated by
       the Rubenstein Technology Group. http://www.rubensteintech.com
 
     Community Voice Mail recently expanded its capacity to help when The Cisco
 Foundation provided them technology to serve 120,000 hurricane Katrina
 evacuees with voicemail services. Now they need to ramp up support services to
 meet demand.
     Charities like Community Voice Mail may indeed be on the receiving end of
 a new trend in responsible giving. According to a 2004 survey of businesses by
 The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and the U.S. Chamber of
 Commerce, 70% of participants contributed cash to "support the well-being of
 communities."
     The Giving USA Foundation's yearly report for 2004 shows individual giving
 increased over 4% to 187.92 billion, and charitable giving by business
 entities reached 12 billion, a 7.3% increase.
     Says Bill Strathmann, CEO of Network for Good: "Giving to a worthy cause
 at the holidays makes everyone feel good, the person making the donation, the
 person or company honored with the donation and the person helped by the
 donation. That's a win-win-win scenario."
 
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 appropriate link.
 Patricia Bonnell
 http://profnet.prnewswire.com/ud_public.jsp?userid=10001226
 
 

SOURCE  Community Voice Mail