For the St. Stephen's Catholic Church, any money it would receive through participation in O-NET's new customer referral program would be spent on improving the lives of others.According to Theresa Coupal, chair of the pastoral council at St. Stephen's, parishioners provided flood relief in High River last year, an example of the kinds of projects the church would contribute to with the money.“Several of our parishioners … on more than one occasion went up and we worked over there and helped in that community, said Coupal.The church is one community group in town that is participating in O-NET's new customer referral program, revised last month. Under the new arrangement, community groups would receive a $100 donation from the fibre provider for each new customer.The customer would get a service upgrade for six months.The program is in effect until Aug. 31 but could be extended, depending on customer response.Coupal said the church has published a promotion in its weekly bulletin and added that the money would go to other social justice causes, such as funding food banks and drop-in centres in Red Deer or Calgary.“I would suspect that any money that might (be) made from that, that's the area that we would go. It certainly would be to a charitable cause, not to the church itself,” she said.Another group expecting to participate is the Community Lending Shelf, which provides infants' and children's clothing.Lucinda Watkins, the organization's executive director, said donations from O-NET would go to storage needs as well as unexpected ones.“As well as there's needs that come up that we don't necessarily have say, clothes or diapers on hand and it gives us the ability to have a little bit of money in the bank to be able to go and get items for people, especially for desperate needs,” Watkins said.“We're helping out with the (Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre) at this point. Any needs that come up from them, they call us and we help out with new moms, emergencies, items, that sort of thing.”[email protected]
