SaskTel today announced an employee driven donation of over 3,500 toys, books, and games to the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation, and $27,000 to Teddy Bears Anonymous that will help ease children’s stay in Saskatchewan hospitals.

In the spirit of Giving Tuesday, SaskTel began making deliveries of toys to hospitals and pediatric wards across the province on November 28, 2017, with stops at the Alvin Buckwold Centre in Saskatoon and the Regina General Hospital. Deliveries will continue to hospitals across the province through December 15.

“These donations remind us all that SaskTel’s commitment to this province goes above and beyond simply being a service provider,” said the Honourable Joe Hargrave, Minister Responsible for SaskTel. “It shows that SaskTel’s employees truly care about the communities where they live and work, and that they are willing to volunteer their personal time and money to help make their communities a better place.”

The donations are a product of the SaskTel’s Comfort for Kids Challenge that encouraged SaskTel employees to purchase as many toys and raise as much money as possible that could be donated in support of the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation and Teddy Bears Anonymous. While many employees chose to purchase new toys for hospital play rooms, others chose to donate funds that will be used by Teddy Bears Anonymous to buy stuffed toys that are given away to children who find themselves in Saskatchewan’s hospitals.

“Our donations are the result of all the great work our employees do in rallying each other behind causes like making sure pediatric wards have access to toys that will allow kids to still be kids even during a stay in hospital,” said Doug Burnett, SaskTel’s Acting President and CEO. “When a group of employees partnered with the SaskTel Pioneers to challenge the rest of the SaskTel family to join in by raising funds and supplying donations, it was amazing how enthusiastically our staff volunteered or made donations.”

Helping others in their community is a hallmark of the culture of SaskTel and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the groups receiving the company and its employees’ support.

"On behalf of Saskatchewan children, families, and moms-to-be, we offer our heartfelt thanks to SaskTel employees for thinking of our provincial maternal and pediatric units on this worldwide day of giving, says Brynn Boback-Lane, President and CEO of Jim Pattison Children's Hospital Foundation. "This kind act of generosity serves as a reminder of how important it is at this time of year to give back to the children and families in hospital who need our support."

With the SaskTel employees’ donation, children in hospitals across the province will now have a fresh batch of toys to play with that can help take their minds off their stay.

About SaskTel

SaskTel is the leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) provider in Saskatchewan, with over $1.2 billion in annual revenue and approximately 1.4 million customer connections including 608,000 wireless accesses, 367,000 wireline network accesses, 278,000 Internet accesses and 110,000 maxTV™ subscribers. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries offer a wide range of ICT products and services including competitive voice, data and Internet services, wireless data services, maxTV services, data centre services, cloud-based services, security monitoring services, advertising services, and international software and consulting services. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have a workforce of approximately 4,000 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). Visit SaskTel at www.sasktel.com.

About the SaskTel Pioneers

SaskTel is the leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) provider in The SaskTel Pioneers are a volunteer network of current and former telecom industry employees that seeks to make contributions to a variety of community needs; provide value to partner organizations by contributing to their strategic priorities; and create rewarding fellowship opportunities. Built on the principles of fellowship, service and loyalty, the SaskTel Pioneers are an employee driven organization that is a chapter of the TelecomPioneers of America. There are 12 local SaskTel Pioneers clubs across Saskatchewan that combined have over 4,300 members. Visit the Pioneers at www.sasktelpioneers.com.

*Additional delivery locations still to be scheduled.

For more information, please contact:
Tim Jones, SaskTel Manager of External Communications
Phone: 306.777.4548
E-mail: timothy.jones@sasktel.com