TELUS customers text from the heart for Haiti relief

Text donations from across Canada will send $62,000 to support aid in earthquake-ravaged Haiti

VANCOUVER , Jan. 23 /CNW/ - From the bottom of their hearts, TELUS wireless customers sent more than $62,000 by text donations in less than a week in support of aid to Haiti . TELUS thanks its customers for their generosity.

This preliminary amount, donated between January 15 and January 21 , and other donations still being received are being sent directly to the Mobile Giving Foundation of Canada . The funds will be redistributed to different charitable organizations working with the Mobile Giving Foundation's program to raise money by text donation in order to help the families in Haiti affected by the earthquake disaster.

"The devastation in Haiti is affecting the families of our TELUS team members, our customers and countless members of our communities across Canada ," said Jill Schnarr , vice-president of Community Investment and Engagement at TELUS. " Haiti needs our help. We can enable the collective generosity of our customers across Canada by providing them with the ability to text their donations. These results are proof that by working together, we can make a difference."

TELUS customers are using text messages to make donations to their favorite charitable organization and help Haiti relief efforts. For example, each time a wireless subscriber texts the word " Haiti " to 45678, a $5 donation is made to the Salvation Army. Organizations such as the Red Cross, CARE Canada , UNICEF Canada , World Vision, Plan Canada and Clinton Giustra are also using the Mobile Giving Foundation text donation program to raise funds.

TELUS is sending weekly cheques to the Mobile Giving Foundation covering the generous donations from its subscribers.

One for all and all for Haiti

In addition to the text donation campaign, TELUS and its team members organized different activities to help contribute more than $400,000 for the cause. To support the millions of victims of the Haiti disaster, the following activities have been organized:

    
    -  TELUS donated $50,000 to assist in the relief efforts ($25,000 each to
       the Red Cross and the Salvation Army).

    -  1,500 mobile phones, adapted for use in Haiti by TELUS' wireless
       technicians, are being shipped to HaiTel, a telecommunications
       provider in Haiti. These phones will be provided to emergency relief
       workers and others to assist with communications needs during the
       crisis.

    -  TELUS donated the use of its Scarborough and Montreal call centre
       facilities and more than 250 TELUS team members volunteered their
       time, taking phone donations for World Vision during the January 22
       Canada For Haiti telethon.

    -  The benefit concert "L'Union fait la force" on January 21 was held at
       the TELUS Theatre in Montreal. TELUS gave $25,000 to the organizers
       who raised more than $95,000.

    -  On January 17, 2010, spectators at a junior hockey game with the
       Rimouski Oceanic team were encouraged to donate to Haiti, which was
       matched by TELUS for a total of more than $12,500.

    -  TELUS will be donating all proceeds collected from the sale of TELUS
       critters in its corporate stores to the Canadian Red Cross for Haiti,
       so far representing more than $5,000.
    

About TELUS

TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada , with $9.6 billion of annual revenue and 11.9 million customer connections including 6.4 million wireless subscribers, 4.1 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers and more than 100,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle , TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video. In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed $154 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 3 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead our local philanthropic initiatives. For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

For further information: For media inquiries, please contact: AJ Gratton, TELUS Media Relations, [phone], [email protected]