The “SUPPORTINg STORIES” campaign raises more than czk 1 million

                                                                                                                                                  

• Employees supported 20 persons in difficult life situations
• The operator matched each of the amounts raised
• The accompanying sale of pin badges brought in another CZK 25,200
• A total of CZK 1,032,260 will be distributed among 20 people in need                                                   

Before last Christmas, T-Mobile organised the third edition of an internal fundraising campaign called “Supporting Stories”. Within the campaign, the operator’s employees proposed 20 powerful stories of people in their close vicinity who are facing a difficult life situation. This time, the stories involved ten children and ten adults. Over the course of two weeks, employees raised CZK 503,530 among themselves through an internal application; the operator then matched that amount. When adding the proceeds of the sale of thank-you pin badges, the total rose to CZK 1,032,260, which will be distributed among the 20 people in need.

“The campaign is unique in that we do not require any confirmation from the recipients of the donations. We realise that their lives are hard enough and we do not want to burden them with additional unnecessary paper work. We have absolute confidence in our employees in that respect,” says Eva Karasová, Social Responsibility Manager at T-Mobile.

For the first time, the event had two stages this year – the employees first entered the individual stories in a special campaign application and the fundraising began. During stage two, the voluntary sale of pin badges was launched within an internal campaign called “Díííky” (“Thaaank You”): employees could purchase a badge for CZK 20 and give it to someone. The proceeds from the sale were distributed equally among all stories.

This year, the contributors donated CZK 1,380 on average via the campaign application, often helping several people in need simultaneously. The stories illustrate the difficult circumstances of those involved: for example, one-year-old Markétka from a small village near Znojmo, had to have her right leg amputated following a struggle with cancer; four-year-old Matyášek from Prague is fighting acute lymphoblastic leukaemia; three-year-old Adámek from the Olomouc region has a malignant tumour; eight-year-old Míša from the Ústí nad Labem region is a quadriplegic. There are also 16 other brave recipients including adults with severe cerebral palsy and the family of a person who suffered a spinal injury.

All twenty recipients need some sort of help – either a contribution for expensive medications, therapy, rehabilitation, spa treatments, wheelchairs, prams, vehicle modifications, preoperative care or support when returning to practicing sports. The money raised within the campaign will be distributed to all of them in January.

Information about T-Mobile’s other activities in the area of social responsibility is available here.

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.