New TELUS Thompson Okanagan Community Board announces first six charities receiving donations

Projects focused on youth in Thompson Okanagan will benefit from $300,000 in financial grants every year



Kelowna, B.C. – Today, TELUS Thompson Okanagan Community Board Chairman Nancy Greene Raine announced the charities that will receive the board’s first donations. The board met a few hours after being launched yesterday to consider initial funding applications from organizations that work with youth to improve their quality of life and to enable them to reach their full potential. The board of local community leaders and TELUS team members selected six local charities for gifts of up to $20,000, each, for a specific project that will benefit youth in the areas of arts & culture, education & sport, or health & well-being in our environment.



• $10,000 to Ballet Kelowna’s Youth Performing for Youth program to promote early exposure to the arts and give disadvantaged youth access to ballet programming



• $10,000 to the Canadian Mental Health Association Kelowna Branch’s Knowledge is Power program to enhance understanding and help remove the social stigma around mental health issues through educational opportunities targeted at youth and families



• $5,000 to the National Sport Trust Fund - Curl BC Youth Programs’ Capital One Rocks & Rings program to enable partnerships with curling centres and school districts for the delivery of school-based, indoor curling programs geared towards youth in order to increase participation



• $5,000 to the Okanagan Science Centre’s Inspiring the Next Generation program to obtain new science and technology equipment to advance learning and support programming that keeps youth engaged in science



• $5,000 to the Osoyoos Child Care Centre Society to keep quality child care affordable for Osoyoos families and help support continuing education for staff



• $5,000 to the YMCA-YWCA of the Central Okanagan’s Youth Leadership Program to provide disadvantaged youth with weekly targeted programming in a safe environment



The TELUS Thompson Okanagan Community Board is part of a national philanthropic program that includes 10 other TELUS community boards across Canada. The TELUS Community Boards are comprised of community leaders and TELUS team members who come together to make local funding decisions and seek out charitable partners – an intensely local approach to corporate philanthropy unique in Canada. Since their inception in 2005, the TELUS Community Boards have donated $27.7 million to local charities, supporting 1,900 community projects.



Local charitable organizations are invited to apply to the TELUS Thompson Okanagan Community Board for funding of projects with a focus on young Canadians and the innovative use of technology. For more information on the TELUS Thompson Okanagan Community Board, including how to apply for funding, go to telus.com/community.



About TELUS Community BoardsTELUS Community Boards are an innovative and groundbreaking effort that puts decision-making in the hands of local leaders who know their communities best. This approach helps make TELUS’ financial support accessible to the grassroots organizations that make such a tremendous difference in building stronger communities. Eleven TELUS Community Boards are making a positive impact across Canada from coast-to-coast in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Rimouski, Quebec City, Atlantic Canada and now the Thompson Okanagan. Since their inception in 2005, the Community Boards have contributed $27.7 million to charitable organizations and supported 1,900 community projects.



About TELUS

TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $10.1 billion of annual revenue and 12.4 million customer connections including 7.1 million wireless subscribers, 3.7 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers and more than 400,000 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 will, by year-end 2011, have contributed $245 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.1 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.