Joins with Prominent Canadian Charity to Send Tents, Sleeping Bags and Flashlights

TORONTO, Jan. 15 /CNW/ - Canadian Tire is sending tents, sleeping bags, flashlights and batteries to thousands in urgent need in Haiti as part of its support of Canadian charity ONEXONE (www.onexone.org) that is coordinating a number of lead Canadian companies in their donations.

Canadian Tire has partnered with the Canadian charity to provide urgently-needed outdoor living supplies to thousands in need. Supplies include hundreds of Woods four-person tents with a special side-storage compartment, Escort 2lb sleeping bags and thousands of Eveready flashlights and batteries. All of these rugged products are made for extended outdoor use and durability.

At the request of the charity, Canadian Tire has also agreed to provide additional merchandise at-cost to the charity next week to extend and maximize the monies that have been raised to purchase needed equipment in Haiti.

Canadian Tire is receiving calls from its vendors and partners who are also looking to contribute to efforts in Haiti. Canadian Tire will be coordinating donations received from its vendors through ONEXONE for transport to Haiti.

ONEXONE is organizing several flights to transport the urgently-needed equipment, including the first flight expected to depart as early as Saturday.

"We felt this was an urgent request that we were in a unique position to help with," said Mike Arnett, President of Canadian Tire Retail. "Canadian Tire is appreciative that we can play a small part in helping thousands of people in desperate need right now. We commend ONEXONE for their great work in coordinating donors from across Canada."

Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (TSX: CTC.a, CTC) is comprised of five business units: Canadian Tire Retail, one of Canada's most-shopped general merchandise retailers with 476 stores; PartSource, an automotive parts specialty chain with 87 stores; Canadian Tire Petroleum, one of the country's largest and most productive independent retailers of gasoline, operating 273 gas bars, 268 convenience stores and kiosks, and 73 car washes; Mark's Work Wearhouse, one of the country's leading apparel retailers operating 374 stores in Canada; and Canadian Tire Financial Services that has issued over five million Canadian Tire MasterCard credit cards and markets related financial products and services for retail and petroleum customers. More than 57,000 Canadians work across Canadian Tire's organization from coast-to-coast in the enterprise's retail, financial services, and petroleum businesses.