SURREY, B.C. – Children in Cranbrook have a newly renovated place to play, thanks to the efforts of Terasen Gas employees, members of the Cranbrook Early Childhood Development Committee and City of Cranbrook staff, who joined forces today to refurbish the Tot Park located behind the Cranbrook RecPlex.

 

Volunteers planted shrubs and perennials, and assembled picnic tables and benches at the Tot Park.  This is the first step in expanding the park to make it universally accessible to all children 6 years and under, and their caregivers.
 
The efforts were part of Terasen Gas’ annual Community Giving Day, in which employees volunteer their time and a $30,000 corporate donation is provided to a local community organization. The project was selected by Terasen Gas employees, who were interested in supporting a project that was focused on children.

 

“We’re excited to help improve this park for local kids,” said Elvia Picco, Community Relations Manager, Terasen Gas. “We thought carefully about how we could give back to the community where we live and work. This project is important to our employees, as it focuses on children playing in a safe, outdoor environment.”

 

A universally accessible playground will not only benefit children, but the community as a whole, by providing a level playing field for children of all abilities. Parents, grandparents and caregivers with accessibility issues will have the opportunity to play alongside and supervise safely with greater ease.  The playground will allow children with disabilities – be they physical, developmental or sensory – to play side-by-side with their able-bodied peers, fostering acceptance and awareness. The improvements to the Tot Park will feature a special spongy, safe surface that will not only allow for accessibility, but also cut down on bumps and bruises. 

 

“All children deserve to play together in a safe and engaging environment, regardless of their mental or physical ability,” said Patricia Whalen, Coordinator for the Cranbrook Early Childhood Development Committee. “Making these upgrades to this playground as a community is a way for all of us to give back, and I can’t wait to see this accessible playground come together and see children out there having a good time. We’re very grateful to Terasen Gas and the City of Cranbrook for their contribution to and support of this worthwhile project.”

 

“The City of Cranbrook is very excited about the upgrades to the Pre-School Playground and the partnership with the Cranbrook Early Childhood Development Committee and Terasen Gas,” added Diane Butz, Director of Leisure Services. “Many children already use this area, and with the upgrades, it will open up opportunities for children with disabilities. The shrubs being planted around the site will improve the aesthetics of the grounds, and act as a barrier from the street.”

 

The Cranbrook project is one of three Terasen Gas Community Giving Day projects in B.C. In Courtenay, employee volunteers completed light renovations and maintenance work at a transition house for women 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.

 

 

Elvia Picco
Community Relations Manager
Terasen Gas
Phone: 250-868-4517
Cell: 250-215-3134
Email: elvia.picco@terasengas.com 
Follow us at: www.twitter.com/terasengas

 

 

 

 

MEDIA BACKGROUNDER - Give Where You Live

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.

 

Specifically, employees can ‘give where they live’ through:

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.

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.

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 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.

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.