A team of Verizon employees responded to the Edgewater Community Center following a devastating five-alarm blaze in the borough on January 21 that forced more than 1,000 to flee their homes.
The community center served as a central hub for displaced residents to get information, eat a hot meal, pick-up donations and spend time until temporary housing became available.
Verizon and Verizon Wireless set up in the gymnasium, offering residents free 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot WiFi devices and charging stations. Verizon FiOS representatives were on hand to help residents who lost their homes suspend their FiOS service for free.
“We're really here to support the community,” said Melody Buchanan, a regional sales manager for Verizon. “A lot of people don’t remember about their phone service at a time like this. So we are here to answer any of their questions and suspend their service and help them bring their service to another location.”
Verizon also dispatched an installation maintenance team to install a complementary FiOS television and internet service in the community center so displaced residents could have access to free Wi-Fi while at the community center. Verizon also wired televisions in two rooms in the community center, one with children’s programming and the other with news.
Verizon joined several other groups at the community center, including the American Red Cross. Verizon and the Red Cross have worked together to respond to other disasters, including Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy.
“Verizon runs toward a crisis; not away from it,” said Paul Sullivan, regional president, consumer wireline, Verizon New Jersey.
