BT GROUP PLC
DC14-428 September 16, 2014
"BT Bike Ride" participants will cycle 330kms (205 miles) to raise funds for two French charities, ECD Sartrouville and Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque
BT today announced the kick-off of the "BT Bike Ride", a sports and charity project organised for the first time by BT teams based in France. Fifteen BT France employees will cycle 330kms (205 miles) over three days to raise funds for two charities. "BT Bike Ride" participants will leave from BT's French headquarters in Paris la Défense on September 16th to arrive at BT Centre, BT's corporate headquarters, next to St Paul's Cathedral in London on September 18th.
The "BT Bike Ride" is part of BT's volunteering programme and supports two charities working for the improvement of children's lives. ECD Sartrouville provides coaching and education support to students in secondary schools from disadvantaged backgrounds in Sartrouville, a suburb located north of Paris. Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque enables children with heart malformations from around the world to undergo surgery in France when medical and financial measures do not exist in their countries of origin.
Each participant of the "BT Bike Ride" had to raise a minimum of €700 before the start of the race, through online donations. They exceeded their target and raised €18,750 in total for both charities, thanks to the generosity of almost 350 people.
Jérôme Boillot, country manager for BT in France, said: "We strongly believe that volunteering is good for our people and strengthens our business, as well as benefitting charities and the communities they support. Volunteering is part of our Better Future programme and we actively encourage our people to contribute to society and the environment. We recently organised a volunteering week in our headquarters and we discovered the amazing work carried out by ECD
Sartrouville and Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque. We wanted to make a contribution to these worthwhile causes by organising a fundraising sport event. I am particularly proud of our fifteen employees who volunteered to take part in this project and succeeded to raise more money than we expected for the two charities. With the "BT Bike Ride", we contribute to change the lives of children for a better future."
HP, one of the world's largest IT companies, is partner of the race. Funds raised through the "BT Bike Ride" for ECD Sartrouville will finance a three-day cultural stay in London for young people and members of the charity. Funds raised for Mecénat Chirurgie Cardiaque will finance the surgery in a French hospital of a child from Burkina Faso with heart malformations, as well as a one-week mission in Haiti in December 2014 to learn about local medical conditions and diagnose children with heart disease.
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About BT's Better Future programme
Better Future is BT's commitment to use the power of communications to improve lives and ways of doing business - without it costing the earth. Better Future embeds responsible and sustainable business practice to build real growth and is rooted in what BT does best - bringing together our networks and technology with the expertise of our people to make a better world. Our Better Future programme focuses on three areas, connecting people digitally ('Connected Society'), using our skills and technology to help society support good causes ('Improving Lives'), and ensuring BT makes a net positive contribution to the environment ('Net Good').
For further information, visit www.bt.com/betterfuture.
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