Kids Help Phone receives $312,000 Donation from Compass Group Canada to Help Kids Across Canada

    TORONTO, Dec. 19 /CNW/ - Kids Help Phone's President and CEO, Tom
McAllister was on-hand today to receive a $312,000 cheque from Jack C.
MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Compass Group Canada and ESS North
America.
    Giving back to the community is a fundamental core value of Compass Group
Canada and ESS North America. Compass Associates take pride in working for a
company that supports their community-mindedness. The company's theme for this
year "Reaching Beyond in 2008 for Kids Help Phone" was well suited to the
cross-country fundraising initiatives planned by thousands of Compass
employees across the country. Corporate sponsorship of the Bell Walk for Kids
Help Phone was topped off with coin box donations, raffles, auctions, bake
sales, and the first-ever Great Compass Race for Kids Help Phone. The creative
approach to fundraising put Compass ahead of its financial target.
    "It is only with the support of companies like Compass Group Canada that
Kids Help Phone's professional counsellors can continue to be there when kids
in our communities across the country reach out for help," said Tom
McAllister, President & CEO at Kids Help Phone. "We appreciate the generous
efforts of Compass Group Canada and its associates in making this donation
possible."
    "I am delighted to tell you that this year, we surpassed our goal, and
that Kids Help Phone will be the beneficiary of a cheque in the amount of
$312,000 thanks to the generosity and tremendous sense of community spirit
that Compass associates are well known for," said Jack C. MacDonald, Chief
Executive Officer, Compass Group Canada and ESS North America. "This is an
outstanding achievement on everyone's part, about which I am extremely proud."
    Kids Help Phone relies on the support of individual and corporate donors
to ensure that its phone and web counselling, information and referral service
for kids can continue to operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

    About Kids Help Phone:

    Kids Help Phone is Canada's only toll-free, 24-hour, bilingual and
anonymous phone and online counselling, referral and information service for
children and youth. Every day, professional counsellors provide immediate,
caring support to young people living in urban, rural and remote locations
right across the country. Children and youth contact Kids Help Phone about
every issue imaginable - from school, dating and family problems, to
bullying/cyber-bullying, addiction and abuse. In 2007, Kids Help Phone touched
the lives of children and youth in need from almost 3,000 Canadian communities
more than two million times through its phone and online services.
    Established in 1989, Kids Help Phone is recognized internationally as a
leader in the delivery of phone and online counselling to kids. The charity
employs more than 100 highly trained counsellors and benefits from the support
of more than 10,000 fundraising volunteers in over 50 communities from coast
to coast, and the commitment of a growing number of leading Canadian companies
and their employees. Kids Help Phone will be celebrating its 20th anniversary
in 2009.

    About Compass Group Canada:

    Compass Group Canada is the leading contract food and support services
company in Canada with 22,000 associates working throughout the country. Its
Canadian head office is located in Mississauga, Ontario. Compass Group Canada
has been designated a Top 100 Employer and a GTA Top 75 Employer. It was the
recipient of the 2007 Company of the Year, Foodservice and Hospitality
Pinnacle Award. Its parent company, UK-based Compass Group PLC was ranked 13th
largest employer by Fortune Magazine in 2007. It has worldwide revenues of
(C.) $20.2 billion.

    CNW Group is proud to be the official newswire provider for Kids Help
Phone.

For further information: Media contacts: Virginia Middleton, Kids Help
Phone, [phone] x8345, [e-mail]; Cindy
Harris, Compass Group Canada, [phone] x432,
[e-mail]