MONTREAL – Bell will donate a further $6.58 million to Canadian mental health programs after Wednesday’s Bell Let’s Talk Day recorded over 131 million calls, tweets, texts and shares.
Over the 28.5 hours from midnight Newfoundland time to midnight Pacific time, there were 131,705,010 total Bell Let's Talk interactions, including texts, mobile calls and long distance calls by Bell customers, tweets using the #BellLetsTalk hashtag on Twitter, views of the Facebook Bell Let's Talk video, Instagram posts using the #BellLetsTalk hashtag, and Snapchats with the Bell Let's Talk geofilter – a 4.6% increase over the 125,915,295 total on Bell Let's Talk Day 2016.
With Snapchat and Instagram joining Twitter and Facebook as Bell Let's Talk partners, total social media interactions almost tripled, from 7,409,845 messages of support in 2016 to 22,008,855 this year. #BellLetsTalk was the top Twitter trend in Canada and worldwide.
Bell donates 5 cents per interaction, so the result is a further $6,585,250.50 in funding for Canadian mental health programs. The company’s total donation to mental health programs since the initiative kicked off in 2010 now stands at $86,504,429.05.
Bell Let's Talk Day once again drew support from Canada's leaders including Governor General David Johnston and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well as the Royal family with tweets from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Will and Kate and Prince Harry. Prime Minister Trudeau also joined in on a live Twitter chat with Clara and Bell Let's Talk spokesperson Marie-Soleil Dion to share his perspectives on mental health.
"On behalf of everyone involved in Bell Let's Talk and all those the initiative supports, I'd like to convey our immense gratitude to everyone who participated in a day of such wonderful progress for Canadian mental health," said Bell Let's Talk chair Mary Deacon, in the news release. "To Clara and team, to all the partners who helped carry the message forward, to the students who led the charge at campuses nationwide, to all of you who shared your time and your stories: your passion for the cause is making all the difference for people who struggle with a mental illness in their lives and all those who support them. Thank you everyone!"
