Ford India Holds Global Week of Caring, Rolls out Several Community Projects

Around 1,000 Ford in India volunteers joined an army of 12,000 Ford employees, retirees and dealers to carry out hundreds of community projects in six continents for the seventh annual Ford Global Week of Caring (GWC). Engaging in seven or more activities in seven days in Chennai, Coimbatore, Sanand and Delhi, the GWC has seen volunteers from Ford India and Ford’s Global Business Services (comprised of Ford Business Services Center and Ford Technology Services India) work for betterment of the communities around Ford’s operation in India making the spirit of Go Further come alive.

From September 8 through 15, the Ford Volunteer Corps were out in force to change lives in the communities around Ford’s operations in India. They paved the way for better health and sanitation among school children by conducting eye check-up camps and awareness campaigns, built toilets and installed water purifiers at several local schools. To strengthen the learning of children in rural areas, they organized Literacy Melas and helped rural women get self-sufficient with tailoring skill development. What’s more, the Ford in India volunteers brought to the table varied expertise in identifying, planning and executing projects, be it the construction of toilets in schools or the distribution of shoes to students, leveraging their strong relations with the community to go one step further in helping Ford become a responsible citizen in the community year on year.

“At Ford in India, we strongly believe in working closely with the communities throughout the year. During GWC every year, we take the opportunity to celebrate the scale of volunteerism and work harder towards engaging and involving in initiatives that bring a smile in the children and a positive change to the communities,” said Michael Boneham, president and managing director, Ford India at the Grand Finale event at Melrosapuram CSI School, near Maraimalai Nagar, Chennai. I thank all the volunteers for making this valuable contribution in helping the kids learn and helping improve sanitation with new toilets at schools and more. We will continue to build on this good work with our initiatives like ‘Operation Goodwill’ in the coming months”

“Ford is a special company. We not only have best-in-class products, we have best-in-class volunteerism,” said Joginder Singh, executive director of Ford’s Global Business Services. “Over the last seven years, our compassionate and enthusiastic employees have been making a difference to people in the local communities during the Ford Global Week of Caring. With every passing year, we go further and get closer to our vision of a better world.”

Over 500 school children in villages of Melrosapuram and Peramanur enthusiastically participated in a sanitation awareness campaign conducted by Ford Volunteer Corps in India, while Ford India helped build toilets for them. At a neighboring girls’ school in Guduvanchery, Ford India volunteers donated toilet fixture to improve sanitation, so that girl children are motivated to stay in school. There were big smiles among kids, many hailing from very poor families, as the volunteers donated nearly 1,000 shoes in five schools around Ford’s plant in Maraimalai Nagar. There was also a high turnout for the eye-checkup camps for students of two high schools.

Similarly, at Ford’s Global Business Services, volunteers organized an inter-school quiz contest for nearby schools which saw over 1,000 students actively participating. A special awareness session on eye donation was conducted by doctors at the office premises, and over 120 employees pledged to donate their eyes. Volunteers also installed water purification systems at three schools during the grand finale - ‘Water Smart’, providing over 2,500 children access to safe drinking water. As a part of this event, the team staged an entertainment program, a street play and organized an awareness campaign for school children, along with the teaching staff. They also organized a door-to-door campaign educating the local residents on water sustainability and conservation practices.  At Ford’s facility in Sanand, volunteers conducted competitions for children and tree plantations at a school near the facility, among others.

As a reflection of Ford’s commitment to India, around USD 28,000 was spent on various projects during the week. This sanction is part of Ford’s global initiative to reach out to more than 25 nonprofit organisations in the Asia Pacific countries of Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as South Africa, who will share for the first time more than USD 90,000 in grants for the tools and supplies needed by the volunteers to complete their projects.

“It has been a great experience to be a part of the events over the past week, driven by the eager enthusiasm of our volunteers to bring about change,” said Tom Chackalackal, executive director for Manufacturing at Ford India. “Ford is committed to carry on the success of the seven days of caring year on year across all its operations, be it Chennai, New Delhi or Sanand.”