What a difference a day makes

Thousands of TELUS volunteers lend a hand on Saturday to help hundreds of charities across Canada during seventh annual TELUS Day of Giving

VANCOUVER, May 24, 2012 /CNW/ - On Saturday, May 26, 12,000 TELUS team members and retirees across Canada will take part in the seventh annual TELUS Day of Giving. Team members, retirees, friends and family from coast to coast will volunteer in support of local activities to make positive, heartfelt and lasting connections within their communities on this very special day.

"Our commitment to local communities is near and dear to our hearts and the passion our team members and retirees display in giving back is truly inspirational," said Darren Entwistle, TELUS President and CEO. "TELUS Day of Giving enables our team to stand with our charity partners and contribute to the health and well-being of our fellow Canadians. Our team will make a difference by volunteering at children's hospitals, by feeding the homeless, by sorting thousands of pounds of food bank donations, and by completing ecological face lifts at city parks, to name just a few activities."

Nearly 300 activities will be held in communities across Canada on Saturday from coast to coast such as Victoria, Vancouver, Prince George, Kamloops, Kelowna, Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Barrie, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Rimouski and Halifax.

Since its inception in 2006, TELUS Day of Giving has mobilized 52,000 team members, retirees, family and friends to volunteer at 1,250 TELUS-organized activities benefiting the communities where we live, work and serve.

We Give Where We Live
TELUS, its team members, retirees and Community Boards have contributed $260 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.2 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. TELUS' heartfelt efforts in this regard focus on educating and empowering youth to improve their quality of life and to enable them to reach their full potential.

• Since their inception in 2005, the eleven TELUS Community Boards across Canada have contributed more than $30 million to grassroots charitable organizations and supported more than 2,300 community projects across the country.
• Through our TV for Good and Phones for Good campaigns, TELUS donates to local grassroots community projects for every new TELUS TV and smartphone customer in specific communities. Since 2009, TELUS has contributed $6.5 million to 35 local community projects in Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia through our TV for Good campaigns. Further, we have donated $1.19 million to 12 community projects across B.C. and Alberta through our Phones for Good campaigns.
• Through our Team TELUS Charitable Giving program, TELUS matches team member and retiree donations made to Canadian registered charities, dollar for dollar. In 2012 alone, the TELUS team will donate $6.8 million through this program.
• The TELUS Community Ambassadors program provides a vehicle for retiree and team member volunteerism. The program maintains the tradition of community giving that has been part of the telecommunications industry for more than 100 years. In 2011, our 2,500 TELUS Community Ambassadors made and delivered a remarkable 63,500 care items to homeless, displaced and impoverished citizens.

To learn more about TELUS' commitment to the community, please visit telus.com/community.

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $10.5 billion of annual revenue and 12.7 million customer connections including 7.4 million wireless subscribers, 3.5 million wireline network access lines and 1.3 million Internet subscribers and more than 550,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including wireless, data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, television, entertainment and video.

In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed more than $260 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.2 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Eleven TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead TELUS‟ local philanthropic initiatives. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.