Earth Day can offer more than a chance to raise environmental awareness; it also provides an opportunity to help victims of domestic violence.

Verizon Wireless, along with several other companies, is using Earth Day to raise awareness for domestic abuse by asking for donations of wireless phones. The phones keep extra waste out of landfills and are given to victims of domestic violence Laura Merritt, a Verizon spokeswoman, said.

Verizon has been collecting used wireless phones since 1995, and made the program official in Pennsylvania two years ago by dubbing it the HopeLine Program, Merritt said.

Since 1995, more than one million phones have been collected and distributed nationally to victims of domestic violence, keeping more than 200 tons of waste out of landfills and helping communities, she said.

"People who are in situations where they have been victims of domestic violence are tentative to leave a location with a phone," Merritt said. "[Cell phones] give [people] an added sense of security -- they have constant access to 911."

Cell phones give people access to emergency numbers, and they also provide people living in homeless shelters a permanent number to give to potential employers or to find their own housing, said Denise M. Scotland, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

In addition they give people a way to contact their families or support systems, and also give them an opportunity to receive crisis counseling over the phone, Scotland added.

In the past, people who received donated cell phones were only able to dial 911, she said. Now many phones have regional service paid for by Verizon or a charity service, Scotland said.

"[The service] is greatly improved from the past," she added.

Within Centre County, donated cell phones make "a huge difference" to victims of domestic violence, said Dawn McKee, education and outreach coordinator for the Centre County Women's Resource Center, 140 W. Nittany Ave.

While cell phones distributed in the region only have access to 911, many are given to people who cannot normally access cell phones, McKee said.

The phones come from all over the region, and can be donated at the Resource Center, she said. They need to come with all the working parts, such as adapters and chargers, McKee added.

The center also accepts other donations, such as phone cards and gift cards to places such as Wal-Mart, department stores or grocery stores, McKee said.

"That's what we use the most of and what our clients benefit from most," she said.

Cell phones for the HopeLine Program can be donated at the Verizon Wireless store at 1500 N. Atherton St., and at RadioShack at 168 Rolling Ridge Drive. Both stores' locations in the Nittany Mall are also taking donations.