February 2, 2002

ATCO GAS EMPLOYEES DELIVER $430,000 TO LOCAL CHARITIES

(Edmonton, Alberta) - ATCO Gas employees in Edmonton today gave more than $120,000 to four major local charities. These donations are part of more than $430,000 that employees across Alberta are donating to 275 organizations in an effort to help improve the quality of life in the 52 communities in which they work and live.

The $430,000 is part of more than $842,300 that the people who make up the ATCO Group of Companies had either personally donated or raised through various innovative community donation programs, some of which were launched more than half a century ago.

The annual ATCO Gas campaign saw 86 per cent of employees contribute directly with even more money raised at 75 events, including bake sales, in 24 different Alberta communities.
In Edmonton today, ATCO Gas employee representatives presented Stars Air Ambulance with $25,716.61, the Capital Region United Way with $61,301.38, the Canadian Cancer Society with $17,413.13, and the Alberta Cancer Foundation with $18,057.13.

Earlier this month in Calgary, ATCO Gas employees delivered more than $117,000 in financial support from the Employee Community Service Fund to local charities, with more than $70,000 directed to The Mustard Seed, Stars Air Ambulance, the Canadian Cancer Society, The Salvation Army, the United Way, and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Similar events have taken place in communities across Alberta, from Brooks and Lethbridge in the south, to Edson and Grande Prairie in the north.

"Since 1947, the employees of ATCO Gas have been providing support to the communities in which we live and work," said Lori Nagy, Community Investment Advisor for ATCO Gas in Edmonton. "This program allows our employees to directly support organizations that impact their communities across the province."

ATCO companies have, in almost all cases, matched these contributions made by their employees to Canadian health and welfare organizations of their individual choice. In addition, the ATCO Group made corporate donations of more than $1,000,000 last year to health and welfare organizations, bringing the total to Alberta communities to more than $1.8 million.

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