KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin
Mobile® USA announced today that
is excited to support the mission of the 1Million Project — to help
1 million high school students who do not have reliable internet
access at home reach their full potential by giving them free
mobile devices and high-speed wireless internet connectivity. As
part of the Virgin Group of companies, the mobile
provider shares a common purpose of changing business for good
and its support of the 1Million Project will be a core
campaign.
"As a Virgin company, we're part of a long history of giving
back, so we're committed to continuing that tradition and finding
new ways to make a difference," said Doug
Smith, chief operating officer and general manager of Virgin
Mobile. "Our customers value social good, so by teaming up with
Virgin Mobile and the 1Million Project, they can help change a life
and give their hearts a voice."
An estimated 5 million U.S. families with school-age children do
not have home internet access, while seven in 10 teachers assign
online homework. The 1Million Project works to eliminate the
"Homework Gap" that puts these students at a major disadvantage
because they don´t have equitable access to the internet, a
critical tool needed to complete homework, communicate with
teachers or apply for jobs, scholarships or college.
"The 1Million Project relies on the generous support of outside
partners and consumers," said Doug
Michelman, president of the 1Million Project Foundation.
"Our only barrier to helping students is the number of devices that
we can secure — either by receiving financial support or having
them donated by the people Sprint does business with in the
industry. This is why Virgin Mobile's support, our partnerships
with device manufacturers and donations from customers are so
important, as they help the 1Million Project provide more devices,
sooner, to hardworking, deserving students."
Beginning Monday, April 2, Virgin
Mobile customers can help eliminate the Homework Gap by donating
wireless phones they no longer use.1 All makes and
models are accepted, regardless of the carrier or condition. The
net proceeds from reselling or recycling a donated phone will be
used to provide new devices to eligible high school students.
Additionally, for every device donated by Virgin Mobile
customers, the company will donate $5
to the 1Million Project Foundation, up to $100,000, through March
31, 2019. Customers are encouraged to post a photo of their
phones, tag Virgin Mobile and use #1MillionProject on social media
when shipping their phones to the 1Million Project.
"Virgin Mobile customers care about a lot of causes, but this
one is directly related to their mobile device usage," said Smith.
"Just as they fueled our meal donations to Feeding America last
year, I expect our customers to generate many device donations for
students in need."
For the past year, Virgin Mobile generated the donation of more
than 1 million meals to Feeding America®, the nation's largest
domestic hunger-relief organization, through new customers, holiday
promotions and use of the #DonateMyPlate hashtag. Feeding America's
network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries provide food and
groceries to more than 46 million people.
The organization received the support of 10 meals from Virgin
Mobile for every person who signed up with the caring mobile
carrier. Additionally, Virgin Mobile increased its donation during
the holiday season, fueling the donation of 1 million meals to
Feeding America.
"Virgin Mobile USA wins my
heart because of their charitable work, support and actions," said
Kim C., a Virgin Mobile customer in Ohio.
The 1Million Project is a 1Million Project Foundation initiative
with support from Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S), which powers Virgin
Mobile's wireless service on Sprint's nationwide 4G LTE network.
The Sprint network offers overall network reliability that beats
T-Mobile and performs within one percent of Verizon and AT&T.
2 In addition, Sprint's national average download speed
is up 60 percent year-over-year according to Ookla Speedtest
Intelligence data.3 In 2018, Sprint is dramatically
increasing its network investment to further improve coverage,
reliability and speed for its millions of customers.
About Virgin Mobile USA
Renowned for providing unique and
exceptional customer experience in diverse industries, Virgin is
one of the most desirable brands in the world. We're
constantly working to meet that standard and that's why, at Virgin
Mobile USA, we do mobile
differently. We connect people to the things that matter in life
while changing the way our Members experience mobile. Virgin Mobile
is the first iPhone-only carrier in the
United States, offering one simple plan with unlimited
everything (even high-speed data) for only $50 per month. We make it easy to switch with our
groundbreaking introductory rate of just $1 per month for the first six months. Buy a new
or "Pre-Loved" iPhone or bring your own, then transfer your number
and test drive Virgin Mobile for only $1 per month. For more information, please visit
VirginMobileUSA.com.
About the 1Million Project Foundation
The 1Million
Project Foundation will help 1 million high school students who do
not have reliable Internet access at home reach their full
potential by giving them mobile devices and free high-speed
Internet access. Today's learning environment requires 24/7
internet access in order to study, learn, explore and complete
school work from home. Students that cannot connect when they leave
school are at a disadvantage, and their chances of staying on track
in school are greatly limited. By working with school districts
across America, the 1Million Project seeks to remove a significant
hurdle in these students' lives by ensuring they have the same
access to the internet as any other student so that they too have a
fair shot at achieving their full potential. For more information,
visit www.1MillionProject.org.
1Million Project: Donations are non-refundable.
The 1Million Project Foundation is a Section 501(c)(3) charitable
organization. Federal Tax ID 82-2640564. The 1Million Project
Foundation will use donations to support the 1Million Project,
which may include purchasing new devices (smartphones, tablets,
hotspots), providing educational resources, administering the
program and funding program training for eligible high school
students. The 1Million Project Foundation is a separate legal
entity from Sprint. Cash donations to the 1Million Project
Foundation are tax deductible. Feeding
America: $1 helps provide 11 meals secured by
Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks. Virgin Mobile
has committed to contribute a minimum of 1,650,000 meals (monetary
equivalent of $150,000), with a maximum of 2,750,000 meals
(monetary equivalent of $250,000) to Feeding America and member
food banks from 06/20/17-03/31/18.
1 No
purchase required. 2 Average network
reliability (voice and data) based on Sprint's analysis of Nielsen
drive test data in the top 106 metro markets; latest drives
completed from August to December 2017. 3 Average
download speed increase based on Ookla's analysis of Speedtest
Intelligence data comparing December 2016 to December 2017 for all
mobile results.
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SOURCE Virgin Mobile USA