News Release
October 22, 2007

Union Gas Invests in Safety of Chatham-Kent Children

Chatham-Kent Children’s Safety Village and Union Gas celebrate successful first year of safety programming at the Union Gas Learning Centre.

(CHATHAM, ONTARIO, MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2007) – Union Gas President Julie Dill, Chatham-Kent Children’s Safety Village President Gary Patterson and Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope, gathered at the Chatham-Kent Children’s Safety Village to celebrate the success of the Union Gas Learning Centre -- a central component of this important community safety project.

Built with funds donated by Union Gas, the 7,500 square foot, interactive learning center provides educators with a unique venue to demonstrate safety procedures in a hands-on way that children will find easy to remember.

Over the past year, the learning centre has been ramping-up its classroom based programming for students, while the construction of the village itself is moving towards completion.

“Union Gas is committed to safety both on and off the job and to giving back to the communities in which we operate. That’s why our support for the Chatham-Kent Children’s safety village, and six other safety villages across Ontario, was such a natural fit for us. We understand that accidents are preventable and that adopting a safety mindset is essential to accident prevention,” said Dill.

“Over 2,500 children have already participated in safety programs at the Union Gas Learning Center where they have had the opportunity to practice real life skills that reduce the risk they will face injury due to a preventable incident,” said Patterson. “Once the village is entirely completed, we expect annual attendance to exceed 6,000”.

“The Chatham-Kent Safety village plays a vital role in educating, engaging, and ultimately, protecting Chatham-Kent youth,” said Mayor Hope. “I also want to congratulate Union Gas for their commitment to safety and for their contribution and ongoing support of the Children’s Safety Village. Union Gas continues to act as a positive community partner in Chatham-Kent and we value the investments the company makes locally and across Ontario. Both organizations are to be commended.”

The Chatham-Kent Children's Safety Village is a not-for-profit charity that strives to educate the children of our community about day to day dangers. We offer training for students in grades 1, 4 and 6 which is facilitated by our partners from Chatham-Kent Emergency Services and other safety professionals. It is our mission to promote the health and safety of children in conjunction with Chatham-Kent Emergency Services and our community partners.

Union Gas is an integrated natural gas storage, transmission and distribution company serving about 1.3 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in more than 400 communities in northern, southwestern and eastern Ontario. The company also provides storage and transportation services to other utilities and energy market participants in Ontario, Quebec and the United States. Union Gas is a Spectra Energy company.

Andrea Stass
Manager, Media Relations
Union Gas Limited
(519) 436-5490
astass@uniongas.com

Barb Lovell
Interim Executive Director
Chatham-Kent Safety Village
(519) 360-1270
barb@cksafetyvillage.org