Telus, how did you do it?

An IT company with a branch in Cork is to donate €50,000 to two Irish charities after reaching its annual fundraising target in just one month.

Telus International Ireland, which has offices in Cork, Dublin and Mayo, will give the generous sum to mental health charity Aware and animal welfare group My Lovely Horse Rescue.

The donation, which will be shared evenly between both recipients, will support more than 2,000 calls to Aware’s helpline and pay for My Lovely Horse Rescue’s animal feed bill in Cork for all of 2022.

Almost 500 team members from the global customer experience and digital IT solutions provider’s three Irish branches took part in a sponsored virtual climb of Mount Kilimanjaro last month to raise the funds.

The virtual climb, known as the ‘Go All Out’ challenge, took place as part of ‘Telus Days of Giving’, a programme that brings together team members, retirees, family and friends in each of the global regions where TELUS International operates to make a positive impact in their local communities.

Commenting on the successful fundraiser, Telus International Ireland’s Director of Human Resources, Miriam Manning, said: “We are absolutely blown away by the efforts of our team and the support from our community for these two amazing charities.

She added: “By all coming together to virtually climb Mount Kilimanjaro, our team members collectively walked more than 22,000 kilometres in just two weeks. That’s about three times the distance between Ireland and Kilimanjaro by air. This amazing feat showed just how motivated they are by these two charities, which they themselves selected as our charity partners.”

Telus International Ireland partnered with the Conqueror Virtual Challenges to help facilitate the virtual climb.

Conqueror Virtual Challenges will also plant more than 1,100 trees on behalf of team members to mark the progress they tracked via a smartphone app.

With Covid-19 restrictions lifting, Telus International Ireland plans to build on the success of this virtual fundraiser with in-person corporate and social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in the months ahead.

Daniela Illuminati, Director of Operations and Site Lead for Telus International Ireland, said: “Our philosophy at Telus International Ireland is to give where we live, and we are deeply honoured to work with and support the remarkable efforts of these two charities here in our local community. While the restrictions over the last 18 months limited what activities we can do, our tremendous results prove that they did not change our team’s commitment to our community.”

She added: “In addition to supporting Aware and My Lovely Horse Rescue, our team has been able to find other new ways of making a difference. This year, we signed up to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and introduced two hives of 60,000 native Irish honey bees to our Cork campus. We also donated fresh, organic produce from its gardens to the Rainbow Club, a local charity that supports children and teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder.”