Online Grocer Helps Area Food Bank

Ottawa, Ontario July 11, 2001 - Net Transactional Services Inc. (NTSI), a privately held corporation operating TeleGrocer®, Canada's oldest online grocery shopping service, is pleased to announce an industry first. Now online grocery shoppers can make a food donation directly to area food banks with a click of the mouse.

On Thursday 12th July at 1:30PM at The Ottawa Food Bank (1317 Michael Street, Ottawa), Ottawa's Mayor - Bob Chiarelli will make the first online contribution to The Ottawa Food Bank via TeleGrocer's online grocery donation site and declare this new service officially open.

According to Colin Chalk of The Ottawa Food Bank, "Currently, Food Bank donations can be made in all grocery stores whilst people shop. If in 2 to 5 years time shoppers switch to shopping online it is important that they can continue to support our work by donating online. Several tons of food are donated weekly via grocery store cages and we certainly cannot afford to lose these generous contributors."

He further adds, "The Ottawa Food Bank is the first in Canada to link up with this type of service proving that, once again, Ottawa leads the way in both technology and community caring."

According to Garfield Coore, Chairman and CEO of NTSI, "As a community based organization we have a moral duty to give back to the communities in which we do business. Developing this industry leading and pioneering approach to donating food online is our way of saying thanks to the communities that have embraced our service. We certainly hope that other e-grocery operators will follow our lead."

About TeleGrocer
TeleGrocer® (www.telegrocer.com) is a division of NTSI; an Ottawa based privately held electronic commerce organization. The TeleGrocer® online shopping pilot was first launched in 1996 in Ottawa, Canada. TeleGrocer® allows consumers to order over 20,000 grocery items available in their local supermarket retailer from the comfort of their homes using a telephone or computer.

About The Ottawa Food Bank
The Ottawa Food Bank was formed in 1984 to work with other hunger relief organizations in the region to help gather and distribute food to those in need. It is a non-profit charitable organization registered under the Canada Corporations Act.

CONTACTS: Net Transactional Services Inc., Garfield Coore: (613) 738-1813: gcoore@telegrocer.com
                    The Ottawa Food Bank, Colin Chalk: (613) 745-7001