TORONTO, October 25, 2010 – It was a monstrously fun weekend with BMO Financial Group employees, families and friends raising $750,000 at the BMO Boolathon in support of Kids Help Phone. The Halloween-themed bowling fundraiser took place in more than 50 communities across
Canada on October 23 and 24, 2010, and was a spook-tacular success.
“The Boolathon is a fantastic annual fundraising event and we are extremely proud to have partnered with BMO Financial Group again this year,” said Sharon Wood, President and CEO, Kids Help Phone. “With BMO's leadership, support, and remarkable community involvement across the country, funds raised will be directed to Kids Help Phone's essential services that provide phone and internet counseling 24/7 for kids across Canada. Thank you to everyone who got out and booled this year!”
“The community support we've enjoyed across the country reflects the commitment BMO employees have to ensuring children have access to this essential counselling service,” said Sandra Hanington, Executive Vice-President Product Operations, BMO Financial Group. “We're especially thrilled with the number of people who volunteered and helped fundraise for this year's Boolathon, making it the largest to date.”
As a charity, Kids Help Phone receives no core government or United Way funding. Instead, it relies on the support of community-based volunteers and individual and corporate donors to ensure that its counselling, information and referral services for kids can continue to operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
About Kids Help Phone
Kids Help Phone is Canada's leading youth counselling services, moving kids from distress and isolation to confidence and competence. Available anytime of the day or night, in English and French, by phone and by web, it is the go-to resource for kids in Canada from five to 20 when they need help or trustworthy information on issues that are difficult for kids to discuss with anyone else. A respected national charity, Kids Help Phone is vitally dependent on individual donations and corporate support to remain available to kids looking for help; sometimes looking for a lifeline.
About BMO Financial Group
As a founding sponsor of Kids Help Phone, BMO has been supporting the critical efforts of this organization since its inception and, through BMO's extensive network of employee volunteers, provides leadership support for chapters of Kids Help Phone from coast to coast. In 2009, notable contributions to Kids Help Phone from BMO Financial Group and its employees included $300,000 raised from the BMO Presidents' Cup Golf event, $200,000 annual sponsorship for Kids Help Phone's Student Ambassador Program and last year employees raised $601,000 during the BMO Boo-la-thon in support of Kids Help Phone (bowling fundraisers) and several other local fundraising initiatives.
-30-
Media Contacts:
Lauren Davies
Kids Help Phone
(604) 267-7057
lauren.davies@kidshelpphone.ca
Paul Savaria
BMO Financial Group
(416) 927-4529
paul.savaria@bmo.com
Bowled Over: BMO Bank of Montreal employees in Calgary, AB, participate in BMO's Boolathon to support Kids Help Phone.
Bowled Over: BMO Bank of Montreal employees in Quebec City, QC, participate in BMO's Boolathon to support Kids Help Phone.