A three-month campaign to raise funds for Peace Arch Hospice Society ended a month early after reaching its goal faster than anticipated.
Telus staffer Josh Weston, a White Rock local, planned the campaign for October to December of last year, suggesting the company donate $25 to the society for every resident who subscribed to a Telus service during that time, to a maximum of $5,000.
By November, the goal had been met, a news release issued Friday announces.
Weston, who attended Ray Shepherd Elementary and Semiahmoo Secondary, is regional market manager for the Telus PureFibre build in White Rock and said giving back to the community he grew up in is important to him.
“Working for a company that supports local fundraising and grassroots initiatives such as this is quite an amazing feeling,” Weston said in the release.
He said he’s also proud of continuing a legacy of giving and community engagement that his grandparents, Barb and Guy Weston, took pride in. The couple were founding members of the early White Rock community, helped create the White Rock Players Club and volunteered at the Hospice Thrift Shop.
The $5,000 donation to the Peace Arch Hospice is to benefit the training of the volunteers, and provide a boost to established hospice services. In addition, Telus donated 20 winter toques and 10 stuffed animals to offer some comfort to children who attend hospice services.
Since 2000, Telus employees and retirees have donated more than $650 million to Canadian charities and grassroots organizations, and volunteered more than 1.21 million days in communities from coast to coast, according to the release.