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GrandCentral welcomes
Pac-West Telecomm as newest Project CARE partner

Companies provide free local phone numbers and voice mailboxes to homeless

 

June 9, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO – GrandCentral, an emerging personal communications company, today announced it is partnering with Pac-West Telecomm, Inc., a leading provider of traditional and next-generation voice communications services, to provide free local phone numbers and voice mailboxes to thousands of homeless and those in need. Launching its partnership at today’s Project Homeless Connect event in San Francisco, GrandCentral and Pac-West are committed to helping the homeless improve their quality of life by offering those who find themselves displaced from their homes a way to stay connected while they rebuild their lives.

Pac-West is a strategic partner in GrandCentral’s Project CARE (Communications And Respect for Everybody) initiative. This pilot program, first launched in April 2006, offers those in need a permanent local phone number and voice mailbox, free of charge. To date, the company has signed up 354 homeless clients with free local phone numbers and voice mailboxes. In this time, more than 3,000 voicemails have been received by those who previously had no means of communication. As part of this program, Pac-West will contribute personal, local phone numbers per market to qualified clients.

“We are pleased to be participating in an initiative as worthy as Project CARE,” said Hank Carabelli, president and CEO at Pac-West Telecomm. “Working with GrandCentral to provide phone services to those in need provides an excellent opportunity for Pac-West to be able to give back to the community.”

“We launched Project CARE two months ago and usage has really taken off. Our subscribers leave us voicemail messages daily thanking us for the service and telling us how Project CARE has helped them stay connected with potential employers, friends and family, and their doctors,” said Craig Walker, CEO of GrandCentral. “We started Project CARE to help those in need reconnect with society and get back on their feet. With the help of leading companies like Pac-West, we will be able to continue to aid San Francisco’s homeless and expand on a national level.”

Working with support agencies such as the American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter, the Bar Association of San Francisco, the Hamilton Family Center, La Casa de las Madres, North Beach Citizens, the Riley Center, San Francisco Veteran’s Administration Downtown Clinic and the South of Market Health Center, Project CARE offers those in need of both short- and long-term communication links to the real world. For more information about Project CARE, email us at projectcare@grandcentral.com.

About Pac-West Telecomm, Inc.

Pac-West is a provider of advanced communications services that enable traditional and next-generation providers, carriers, and service providers to efficiently design, deploy, and deliver integrated communication solutions. Currently, Pac-West has operations in California, Nevada, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, D.C. and Colorado. Founded in 1980, Pac-West Telecomm, Inc. has been offering communication services to its customers since 1982 and has been a leading provider of wholesale services to Internet Service Providers. For more information, visit www.pacwest.com.

About GrandCentral

GrandCentral is a privately-held, emerging personal communications company. A GrandCentral community initiative, Project CARE (Communications And Respect for Everybody) provides free local phone numbers and voicemail to those without access to a traditional phone number. Project CARE provides these services at no charge and will save the voicemail messages for life. GrandCentral launched a pilot version of Project CARE in San Francisco in April 2006. For more information about Project CARE, email us at projectcare@grandcentral.com.

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