Join Sprint in Celebrating Sprint-CRS's California Statewide Open House on March 23, 2005

From: Sprint - Feb 28, 2005

For immediate release:

Join Sprint in Celebrating Sprint-CRS's California Statewide Open House on March 23, 2005

Sprint is pleased to announce an invitation for all relay consumers, new and current, to come and celebrate the Sprint-CRS (California Relay Services) statewide Open House on Thurs., March 23, 2005. This Sprint-CRS Open House will provide an opportunity for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind, or who have speech disabilities and who are part of the hearing communities to meet and visit with their local agencies and to mingle with old and new friends. People may visit one of sixteen different locations across the state from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

·       Deaf Community Services of San Diego (DCS) - San Diego
·       Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness (GLAD) - Los Angeles
·       Antelope Valley GLAD - Palmdale
·       B-GLAD - Bakersfield
·       Tri-County GLAD - Ventura
·       Center on Deafness - Inland Empire (CODIE) - Riverside
·       Orange County - Deaf Equal Access Foundation (OC DEAF) - Cypress
·       Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency (DCARA) Deaf Community Center (DCC) - San Leandro
·       DCARA - San Jose
·       DCARA - Eureka
·       Deaf and Hard of Hearing Service Center (DHHSC) - Fresno
·       DHHSC Merced Outreach - Merced
·       Norcal Center on Deafness (NORCAL) - North Highland
·       NORCAL Redding - Redding
·       NORCAL  Yuba City at the Best Western Bonanza Inn & Convention - Yuba City
·       NORCAL - Stockton

Sprint Relay representatives will be on-site at each location to provide relay demonstrations and information about the various options that are offered such as; Sprint-CRS 711 Choice, California Relay, Federal Relay, Sprint Relay Online, Sprint Video Relay, Sprint Relay Wireless and many other product innovations. For more information and to find details of the nearest location to celebrate, please check with your local Deaf and Hard of Hearing Agency in California or visit www.sprint-crs.com.

About Sprint CRS

Sprint is one of three telecommunications companies to provide TRS to California citizens. Sprint CRS, including Sprint relay services, are accessible throughout California by dialing 711 or one of several toll-free numbers. Sprint Relay allows Californians who are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind or who have a speech disability to communicate with hearing persons on the phone through traditional relay services, a process that involves a relay operator serving as an intermediary for phone calls between a deaf user and a hearing party.  The TRS operator speaks words typed by a deaf user on a text telephone (TTY) or via the Internet and relays the hearing person's spoken response by typing back to the deaf user.  More information is available at www.sprint-crs.com

Sprint is providing CRS through the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program (DDTP), a multi-million dollar program administered by the California Public Utilities Commission and funded by surcharge on individual customer bills.

About Sprint Relay

With more than 14 years of relay experience, Sprint is providing services to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind or who have a speech disability to communicate with hearing persons on the phone.  Sprint offers FCC-compliant relay services to the federal government, 30 states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and New Zealand.  Sprint's expertise in the field provides the assurance that all Sprint Relay services (TTY, internet, wireless, video, CapTel and Conference Captioning) will meet or exceed Federal Communications Commission requirements for telecommunications relay services (TRS).  For more information, visit www.sprintrelay.com. 

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Stephanie Taliaferro
Sprint Media Relations
6220 Sprint Parkway
Mailstop KSOPHD0302-3B752
Overland Park, KS  66251
(913) 794-3658 phone
(913) 794-0408 fax
stephanie.c.taliaferro@mail.sprint.com