Hydro Ottawa customers again have the opportunity to help the environment while supporting the important work at CHEO.
The utility’s “Go Paperless” campaign donates $5 to CHEO for every customer who switches to online billing or registers for automated payments. Since 2015, this annual fundraiser has already seen thousands of customers do away with paper bills, sending approximately $400,000 to CHEO.
“Keeping CHEO equipped with the best equipment is a huge and expensive task. It would simply be impossible without partners like Hydro Ottawa,” says Jacqueline Belsito, vice-president of philanthropy and community engagement at the CHEO Foundation.
CHEO is the only children’s hospital in this region and helps more than 500,000 children and youth a year.
Through its support of CHEO, Hydro Ottawa’s “Go Paperless” campaign has already helped countless local families by donating money to causes such as the Max Keeping Fund for Kids, which offsets some of the cost of medicine and treatments not covered by insurance to ease the financial burden on families. Previous campaigns have contributed to the purchase of portable patient monitors, an echocardiography machine for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and numerous children’s programs at the hospital.
“We feel that there is a corporate responsibility to give back to the community,” says Julie Lupinacci, chief customer officer at Hydro Ottawa.
CHEO is planning to purchase new ambulatory blood pressure monitors, which are portable blood pressure recording devices, with the proceeds of this year’s “Go Paperless” campaign.
“The machines are used daily and they monitor critical information, moment by moment,” says Belsito.
Last year, nearly 24,000 Hydro Ottawa customers signed up for online billing and automated payments, gaining access to an online portal that allows users to view current and previous bills, track their electricity usage and eliminate the need for paper. Hydro Ottawa is hoping they can maintain that momentum, says Lupinacci.
“If you haven’t registered for online billing and you’re on the fence, now is the time to do it,” she adds. “The decision could make all the difference to a family in the area.”
This year’s Hydro Ottawa “Go Paperless” campaign runs until Dec. 31, 2019.
