RBC celebrates 150 years of Canada by inspiring young Canadians to #Make150Count

RBC

RBC

RBC

RBC

TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2016 /CNW/ - To celebrate Canada's remarkable past and looking to its bright future, RBC will launch its Canada 150 initiative by giving thousands of young Canadians $150 with one simple request: use the money to help communities prosper. Through #Make150Count, RBC will celebrate these extraordinary acts of kindness that are generated across Canada.

"We're celebrating Canada's 150^th anniversary by showcasing the people who will lead and shape our country's future," says Mary DePaoli, chief brand and communications officer, RBC. "Our Canada 150 initiative will bring to life the power and ideas of young people and how they build prosperity in communities across our great nation."

RBC employees will select young people within their communities to participate in the program. In addition, young Canadians between the ages of 16-25 can be part of RBC's national movement by sharing how they would make $150 count through Twitter or Instagram using #Make150Count for a chance to be selected.

To kick-off the program, RBC employees used 300,000 Post-it Notes to create large scale portraits that depict some of the young Canadians who have already used their $150 to #Make150Count. The vivid images of these young community leaders are front-and-centre on the windows of RBC's offices in Halifax, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Among the young Canadians featured in the portraits, acts of good include an art project to demonstrate the value of positive thinking for Canadian women, buying supplies for children who are living in a shelter for homeless families, and making care packages for people living on the street. For more information visit rbc.com/make150count.

The Post-it Notes come from sustainably managed forests, backed by 3M's paper sourcing policy. In addition, t‎hese Post-it Notes are made with plant-based adhesive (67% of the adhesive content) and are made with paper that is 30% post-consumer recycled material. To reduce waste, the notes will be reused by RBC employees in various offices once the portraits are removed.

The portraits are in place in the offices at the following locations:
Toronto: 155 Wellington Street West
Vancouver: 1025 West Georgia Street
Halifax: 1871 Hollis Street

About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. We have over 80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 36 other countries. For more information, please visit rbc.com.‎

RBC helps communities prosper, supporting a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments, sponsorships and employee volunteer activities. In 2015, we contributed more than $121 million to causes around the world.

SOURCE RBC

Video with caption: "Time-lapse video footage following the construction of the #Make150Count Post-it Note Portraits, 155 Wellington Street West, Toronto, ON". Video available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/cgi-bin/playback.cgi?file=20161017_C4972_VIDEO_EN_798281.mp4&posterurl=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos.newswire.ca%2Fimages%2F20161017_C4972_PHOTO_EN_798281.jpg&order=1&jdd=20161018&cnum=C4972

Image with caption: "#Make150Count Post-it Note Portrait featuring Rae Boudreau, 1871 Hollis Street, Halifax, NS (CNW Group/RBC)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161017_C4972_PHOTO_EN_798018.jpg

Image with caption: "#Make150Count Post-it Note Portrait featuring Maelle Ernestine and Peace Emmanuel, 1025 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC (CNW Group/RBC)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161017_C4972_PHOTO_EN_798020.jpg

Image with caption: "#Make150Count Post-it Note Portrait featuring Sariena Luy, Assan Omar and Amily Aziz, 155 Wellington Street West, Toronto, ON (CNW Group/RBC)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161017_C4972_PHOTO_EN_798016.jpg

Allison Goodman, Weber Shandwick, 416-668-3980, [email protected]; Suzanne Willers, RBC, 416-974-2727, [email protected]