Terasen Gas volunteers add to the comfort at Courtenay transition house, a
shelter for women

SURREY, BC, May 8 /CNW/ - A team of Terasen Gas employees were on hand today at Lilli House, a transition house for women fleeing abuse, to do light renovations and maintenance work for the comfort of the facility's residents.

Lilli House provides safe, comfortable shelter for women and their children leaving violent or abusive relationships. Lilli staff members are available 24 hours a day to provide information and emotional support in a safe, secure, comfortable environment.

Terasen Gas employees replaced kitchen cabinets, painted, landscaped, and completed general maintenance tasks at the transition house as part of the company's annual Community Giving Day, in which employees volunteer their time and direct a $30,000 corporate donation to local community organizations. Lilli House was selected by Terasen Gas employees as one of the recipients of this year's donations and volunteer efforts.

"We're pleased to contribute to this worthy organization," said Carol Greaves, Community Relations Manager, Terasen Gas. "Lilli House provides such an important service in our community, and we're glad we're able to help out."

"Approximately 250 women and children a year seek shelter at Lilli House," said Heather Ney, Executive Director of the Comox Valley Transition Society. "In times of crisis, having a welcoming, well-maintained and functional environment provides an atmosphere where staff can best support and meet the needs of residents."

"We are so grateful to Terasen Gas for the contribution of funding and volunteer labour," Ney continued. "These resources have enabled us to address some of the major maintenance and replacement projects needed at Lilli House. This is a huge gift to the women and children we serve."

The Lilli House project is one of three Terasen Gas Community Giving Day projects in B.C. In Cranbrook, employee volunteers teamed up with the Early Childhood Development Committee to refurbish a local park for children and an event in Vancouver will be scheduled in the coming weeks. All three projects receive a $30,000 corporate donation from Terasen Gas and reflect the company's role in delivering a sustainable future for British Columbians, both in developing and implementing integrated energy solutions and in giving back to the communities in which it operates.

This is the third annual Community Giving Day event, which forms part of Terasen Gas' Give Where You Live initiative. The initiative helps foster the health and wellbeing of the communities Terasen Gas serves, by offering employees the opportunity to take an active role in making their communities better places to live and work. Photos of the Community Giving Day events are available.

Terasen Gas is mainly composed of the operations of Terasen Gas Inc. and Terasen Gas (Vancouver Island) Inc., both indirect wholly owned subsidiaries of Fortis Inc. Fortis Inc., the largest investor-owned distribution utility in Canada, serves approximately 2,100,000 gas and electric customers and has total assets exceeding $12 billion. Its regulated holdings include Terasen Gas and electric utilities in five Canadian provinces and three Caribbean countries. Fortis Inc. owns non-regulated hydroelectric generation assets across Canada and in Belize and upper New York State. It also owns hotels and commercial real estate in Canada. Fortis Inc. shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and trade under the symbol FTS. Additional information can be accessed at www.fortisinc.com or www.sedar.com.

MEDIA BACKGROUNDER

Give Where You Live

    
    Overview
    --------
    

Terasen Gas employees have long been ambassadors in their communities, and examples of the corporate social responsibility we value as a company.

To support our employees and the communities in which we live and work, Terasen Gas established the Give Where You Live program. This initiative helps foster the health and wellbeing of the communities we serve, by offering employees the opportunity to take an active role in making their communities happier, healthier, and better places to live.

Community giving reflects Terasen Gas' role in delivering a sustainable future for British Columbians, both by developing and implementing integrated energy solutions, and by giving back to the communities in which we operate.

Give Where You Live provides a variety of ways employees can help their community throughout the year, including a company-wide employee volunteer day in the spring, and a corporate giving campaign in the fall.

    
    Programs
    --------
    Specifically, employees can 'give where they live' through:
    -   The Community Program
    -   Community Projects
    -   Employee Giving Partnerships
    -   Warm Hearts

        The Community Program
        ---------------------
        Employees can apply for corporate funding of $300 every year to any
        local, not-for-profit organization they are already involved with,
        such as a child's sporting team, or the local SPCA.

        Community Projects
        ------------------
        Each year Terasen Gas Community Relations team organizes Community
        Giving Day - where employees volunteer their time to three not-for-
        profit community projects around the province. Each project receives
        a corporate contribution of $30,000 to the local not-for-profit
        organization, and hands-on participation from employee volunteers
        towards the project.

        Employee Giving Partnerships
        ----------------------------
        Terasen Gas offers financial support to charitable causes that are
        important to our employees. Terasen will top up employees' charitable
        donations ranging from $100 to $1,000 by 50 per cent once every year.
        Employees can also sign up for payroll deductions donated to their
        local United Way or Warm Hearts, the employee-run charitable
        foundation at Terasen Gas, and Terasen Gas will top up their
        donations by 50 per cent throughout the year.

        Warm Hearts
        -----------
        Warm Hearts is the employee-run charitable foundation at Terasen Gas,
        established to support the health and well-being of the communities
        where our employees live and work. Every year employees are surveyed
        for the types of charities they believe Warm Hearts should support.
        Based on this feedback, the Warm Hearts committee reviews
        applications of the charities that employees have brought forward, or
        those which best reflect the types of causes employees want to help.

    Participation
    -------------
    

In the past three years, Terasen Gas employees have donated approximately $380,000 to more than 1,000 local organizations through our Employee Giving Partnerships. With the added corporate donations from Terasen Gas, these organizations have received more than $650,000.

This is in addition to the nearly 40 local organizations who have received financial support through the employee-run Warm Hearts charitable foundation, who have collectively received more than $100,000 since 2007. Since its beginning in 1994, Warm Hearts has donated more than $500,000 to the community.

By giving locally, and combining our efforts, we believe we can make lives better in the communities where we live and work. Terasen Gas is proud of its employees, who work every day to achieve this goal.

For further information: Media Contact: Carol Greaves, Community Relations Manager, Phone: [phone], Cell: [phone], Email: [email protected], Follow us at: www.twitter.com/terasengas