VM Virgin Mobile Usa

The National Alliance to End Homelessness will honor Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) at its annual Kennedy Center Awards Ceremony in April 2010 for its significant contributions in the struggle to end youth homelessness. Through its RE*Generation program, Virgin Mobile has raised the profile of youth homelessness, inspired volunteerism, and provided critical resources and funding for local homeless agencies. For its leadership and innovation in motivating the public to more actively confront the issue of homelessness, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Unite will receive the NAEH 2010 Private Sector Achievement Award.

"Homelessness among our nation's youth is a terrible, yet often unseen tragedy," said Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. "Virgin Mobile's leadership and dedication have brought this critical issue into the light in partnership with Virgin Unite, Virgin Group's non-profit foundation. The first step in ending youth homelessness is awareness -- and Virgin Mobile has not only drawn the attention of the nation to the problem, but also mobilized thousands of Americans, especially young people, to speak out, get involved and find solutions."

Virgin Mobile first introduced its RE*Generation initiative in 2006 and has since committed more than $3,000,000 of marketing and direct investment support to local homeless agencies. "For the past three years, Virgin Mobile has made a consistent commitment to addressing the issue of youth homelessness," said Dan Schulman, CEO of Virgin Mobile. "With more than one million children and teens living without a home, it is more essential than ever that broad-based awareness, significant private philanthropy and government support are accelerated to solve this pressing social issue."

In 2007, Virgin Mobile partnered with the National Alliance to End Homelessness and singer-songwriter Jewel, a Virgin Unite Ambassador, to compel Congress to establish the month of November as National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. To read more about The Re*Generation, visit http://www.virginmobileusa.com/regeneration.

"It was a pleasure to join forces with Virgin Mobile to increase awareness of youth homelessness in the United States," said Jewel. "I was homeless as a teenager and it's so gratifying to lend my voice to those who are not heard. My life has been blessed and I'm so fortunate that I can give back."

Virgin Mobile has also introduced several programs that make it easy for young people to be more engaged in helping young people living on the streets. One such program, Txt2Clothe, has already provided local youth agencies with access to more than 200,000 articles of clothing.

This past summer, Virgin Mobile established a "Free I.P." program at its summer Virgin Mobile Freefest, offering concert tickets in exchange for volunteering. As a result, more than 30,000 hours of community service were donated by concert-goers throughout the country, $80,000 was raised, and 7,000 hygiene kits were produced for distribution by homeless youth organizations.

Extending the volunteer program for National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, Virgin Mobile will host a benefit concert on Wednesday, November 18 at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C. featuring Public Enemy. A reception at the Sasha Bruce House for homeless youth, featuring the members of Public Enemy, will precede the concert.

For more information about youth homelessness and the benefit concert, please visit: http://www.aneveningwithpublicenemy.com/.