T-Mobile Fund: Support for a drug-abuse prevention campaign

• Drug-abuse prevention program in the Drop In centre
• The program is financed from the T-Mobile Employee Fund
• More than CZK 2 million granted to a total of 39 projects based on recommendations from T-Mobile employees

Prague, 6 October 2006 - Thanks to financial support of more than CZK 42,000 awarded within the T-Mobile Fund grant program, lecturers from the Drop In centre on Karolíny Svìtlé street can now hold lectures for eighth- and ninth-grade pupils of elementary schools and students of secondary schools from Prague and the Central Bohemia region. A total of twenty lectures will be held in October, during which the participants may ask about anything that may interest them in relation to drug abuse.

"Drug-abuse prevention programs are a mandatory part of the curriculum. However, young people are much more influenced if they learn, in addition to the drug-abuse prevention issues, about the possibilities of treatment and helping drug addicts. Therefore, we support such programs on top of other projects focusing on social issues, healthcare, educational programs and culture," says Martina Kemrová, spokesperson for T-Mobile, adding: "We realize the extent to which support of drug-abuse prevention campaigns focused on young people is important. According to statistics, 70% of drug addicts started to use drugs before the age of 19. A great number of teenagers do not consider marijuana a drug, even though it has been proven that the use of marijuana before the age of 17 impairs normal brain development."

The wheelchair-accessible Drop In centre is the point of first contact for people who are addicted to drugs other than alcohol. The centre provides counseling and advice for experimenters, drug users, parents and relatives of drug addicts, as well as for doctors and nurses, school teachers and instructors and social workers. The centre contributes to the decrease in risks related to the use of drugs, and helps drug addicts find accommodation, temporary jobs or social mentors.

T-Mobile Employee Fund
This year saw the establishment of the T-Mobile Employee Fund as part of the T-Mobile Fund grant program. Company employees could recommend any non-profit organizations whose activities they like or, as the case may be, for which they work. Based on their recommendations, the relevant organizations could send grant applications for their projects.

The VIA Foundation, which administers the T-Mobile Employee Fund, received 166 grant applications, from which the evaluation committee selected 39 projects which will be awarded financial support in the total amount of CZK 2,133,000. These projects will be implemented throughout the country.

In addition to grants for non-profit organizations recommended by company employees, the company announced for the second time the T-Mobile Fund grant program intended for the regions where T-Mobile has its offices, i.e. the Louny and Hradec Králové regions and the Prague 11 district. A total of CZK 5.4 million was distributed by the VIA foundation, which administers the T-Mobile Fund for Prague 11 and Hradec Králové, and by the Community Foundation of the Euroregion Labe, which administers the Fund for the Louny region. Seventy-one winning projects out of 206 submitted applications have received financial support for their implementation. The total amount granted was CZK 3 million higher than that of last year.

For complete information on the winning applicants and their projects, please visit www.lepsisvet.cz, or the websites of both foundations -www.nadacevia.cz and www.komunitninadace.cz.

T-Mobile Czech Republic, a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, has almost 6.2 million customers, the number-one operator in the Czech market. T-Mobile is an integrated operator: in addition to telecommunications services, it offers comprehensive ICT solutions not only for companies, but also for other organizations and individuals. It provides outstanding services in the high-speed network, which was proved repeatedly by benchmark testing performed by umlaut (former P3) with Best-in-Test seal.

T-Mobile Czech Republic places emphasis on taking a responsible approach to the environment and society. It adheres to fair business practices, helps beneficial applications and services to see the light of day, supports non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals, and lends a helping hand whenever crisis situations arise. The company’s employees serve as volunteers in many places across the entire Czech Republic.

More information about the company is available at www.t-mobile.cz, www.t-press.cz (the portal for journalists) and www.t-mobile.cz/pomahame (information on the company’s CSR activities).

Contact details of the press unit: press@t-press.cz.