TransAlta is proud to sponsor Honens as the National Laureate Circle Partner to help inspiring pianists begin their professional career in music. Every three years, the best pianists from around the world gather in Calgary, Alberta for one of Canada’s premier piano competitions and celebration of musical artistry. Honens works with Laureates of the competition to prepare them for the rigors and realities of a professional career in music to help set them up for success.

POWER is a group of dedicated and energetic TransAlta retirees and their partners who strive to improve the quality of life in communities through volunteerism. Their passion for community is exemplified by the projects and organizations that benefit from their many volunteer hours. TransAlta supports POWER by providing office and meeting space, printing services, and a TransAlta employee liaison. POWER’s projects focus in three areas: Environment, Elderly and Education.

We are a proud founding sponsor of the TransAlta Tri Leisure Centre, a sporting and recreation destination for many active and involved residents from the communities of Parkland County, Spruce Grove and Stony Plain in Alberta. At the TransAlta Tri Leisure Centre, thousands of local residents, and many of our employees, participate in a wide range of sporting and cultural activities and join together in many community causes.

The United Way provides TransAlta employees and retirees the opportunity to strengthen their communities and support those most in need. Each year, our employees engage in United Way fundraising activities and volunteer initiatives, and the company donates funds to United Ways across Canada and in the United States topping-up generous employee and retiree donations.

The United Way provides TransAlta employees and retirees the opportunity to strengthen their communities and support those most in need. Each year, our employees engage in United Way fundraising activities and volunteer initiatives, and the company donates funds to United Ways across Canada and in the United States topping-up generous employee and retiree donations.

The Hazel Orme Kindergarten first opened its doors in 1923 in a room of the town hall, where a young Hazel Orme taught disadvantaged children. Community service is a concept that is steeped in the kindergarten’s history and is something that the parent management committee wishes to build on in years to come. Hazel Orme Community Kindergarten is an extension of the home. The kindergarten brings children, families and the broader community together through collaborative relationships to create a nurturing learning environment and foster a sense of value and belonging. The Hazel Orme Kindy has been long running and has its centennial year fast approaching (2023). The teachers are hopeful to give the kindy a fresh look. This is a quote from the teacher “When I was at my previous school I was sent on a Kindergarten nature pedagogy study tour to Scotland & Norway with others from WA private schools. The Kindergarten spaces we saw were incredible clean, light, bright, homely and engaging.”

The goal of their multi-year renovation project is to achieve a more “natural classroom environment”. This has been promoted in many projects that the kindy has participated in such as a nature play area and contributing to the development of the community orchard next door.

In 2018, TransAlta staff across the Australia fleet formed a Movember team.  Despite the emotional trauma on the rest of TransAlta of facing the various forms of face fungus for the month TransAlta supported them by matching the donations they had raised. The three projects that Movember fund raised for in 2018 were;

Prostate Cancer
More men are surviving prostate cancer than ever before – in fact, survival rates in Australia have increased by 30% in the last 25 years. While this is great news, it means that there are more men living with the impacts of prostate cancer treatment which can be completely life changing. As quality of life is as important as a longer life, we fund and manage TrueNTH Prostate Cancer, which helps men and their partners access the care they need when they need it.

Mental Health & Suicide Prevention
In Australia 3 out of every 4 suicides are by men. Due to this, the Movember Foundation’s mental health work focuses on prevention, early intervention and health promotion. To help tackle this, Ahead of The Game is a sports-based initiative that targets adolescent men, their coaches and their parents. The program involves a mental health awareness campaign for adolescents, workshops on the signs of mental health problems, online learning modules, a guide for coaches to improve the motivation of their athletes, and a workshop specially designed for parents.

Testicular Cancer
Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young men. In order to better support men who have been diagnosed with testicular cancer and to help them navigate the journey from diagnosis and into survivorship, we created TrueNTH Testicular Cancer – a digital tool designed and built with the help of men who had lived through testicular cancer to give men the information they need in a way that makes sense to them. It also provides the opportunity for men who are facing a diagnosis of testicular cancer to reach out and make contact with someone who has been there before and who knows what the journey feels like.

The Port Hedland Volunteer Marine Rescue is a not for profit/volunteer group that is tasked with ensuring the safety of Pilbara Mariners. The VMR respond to call outs for broken down vessels, capsized vessels, downed helicopters at sea, flare sightings, EPIRB activations, Man Overboard and Search and Rescues.

VMR’s Primary Rescue Vessel (the Iron Pride) had reached 6 years old and was due for overhaul per scheduled maintenance guidelines. This overhaul will improve the reliability of the vessel and give the VMR improved search and rescue technology that will aid in operational readiness. The VMR are currently seeking funding to complete the Iron Pride (our Primary Rescue Vessel) Overhaul. They aimed and succeeded in sending the Iron Pride to Perth at the end of 2018 to have this overhaul completed.

Also TransAlta supported  Volunteer Marine Rescue by funding Coxswain Training for four of their senior skippers. The training is key to make sure the VMR team have the skills to continue to successfully complete Search and Rescue missions.  These four VMR skippers now have higher marine qualifications and skillsets to help in Marine Search and Rescue Operations. This training was completed through North Regional

Disabled athletes in the Goldfields region have limited access to sports and sporting facilities. The WADSA athletics competition allows the local athletes to compete against similar athletes from across the state, and potentially allow athletes to progress further in their sports. The success of the team is measured in the high participation rates they regularly achieve, as well as GDS currently having many record holders from the ages of 5 up to 40+. GDS is the only disabled sports club in the Goldfields and makes the largest contingent that attends the competition.

TransAlta donated to support the clubs attendance at the annual WA Disabled Sports Association (WADSA) Regional State Championship.  They were able to take roughly 20 athletes and 6 carers to Perth for the competition, held in the first half of 2018.

The sports clubs major goal is to allow the athletes to participate in their chosen events, with a minimal cost to their families that are already burdened by high medical financial requirements. For many parents/carers it is also the only time during the year they are able to have respite from the heavy duties of caring for their children.

For a full list of Australia Community Investment Activities, Click Here.