They all work at Toyota Motor Europe (TME), have good ideas & common goal – helping other people in need. Who are they? These are the dozens of volunteers engaged in their companies annual employee led corporate social responsibility activity – “Project Noel”.
During last four years they worked hand in hand with Belgium-based non-government organization Serve the City, who provide critical help to a vast amount of people in need throughout the country including displaced people, homeless, the elderly and vulnerable families living on the breadline.
They have achieved quite a lot during the last four years:
In 2013 they filled three Toyota Proace vans with food and clothing’s for the homeless and deprived in Belgium.
In 2014 they filled & delivered 250 boxes with toys, sweets, healthcare products, books & electrical equipment for children living in hostels in Brussels.
In 2015 they raised over 26,000 € by conducting various activities based on their ideas such as baking & selling cakes and organizing a giant Halloween party. Additionally TME donated a fully equipped brand new Toyota Proace van to Serve the City.
In 2016 Toyota got festive once again and initiated various lunchtime and weekend fun initiatives that included cake sales, raffles, yoga lessons and Christmas parties. In total they collected over 16 000 € in just 4 weeks. This money will enable Serve the City to purchase a mobile kitchen & serve more meals on the streets of Brussels. Additionally Toyota members filled 2 vans full of food and hygiene products that Serve the City have been using to care for homeless people throughout the harsh winter period.
Here are some of the unsung Toyota’s heroes and their stories …..
Kathryn Burgess – Parts Product Management, After Sales
For the 2015 Serve the City event, I had decided to run a cake sale. However, looking around me, I realised that if I was going to make at least 500 euro I should sell cakes not just in my office but to the entire After Sales building. In need of manpower, I engaged some of my work pals, including people who were already known for their kitchen skills of “Death by chocolate” and Tiramisu. I found myself with a group of 22 bakers.
Together, we shaped a simple idea into something more. We all turned into artistic bakers, marketers and treasurers. The whole event snowballed into a 1,800 euro cake selling bonanza for Serve the City and a team boosting event for all in After Sales.
A week later, I was in action again at a Saturday morning family photo shoot in our head office with the Toyota photography club “T-Click”. Our colleagues enjoyed receiving their professional family and pet portraits. People overflowed with generosity, not just with their cash but also with their time and goodwill. I was deeply touched and thought that this was a one-off and genuinely believed I would never do it again.
That was until December 2016, when I was encouraged to put the showback on the road. To cut a long story short, the 2015 bakers plus a few newcomers, re-assembled and added a new twist by adding an Aftersales raffle. By selling raffle tickets in head office, logistic centre in Diest and technical centre in Zaventem and selling cake in After Sales building, we raised just under 5000€ for Serve the City.
Have I learnt anything? Probably that alone you can accomplish many things but together you can accomplish more and make many friends along the way. Helping people less fortunate than we are is something I believe we should just do.
Elena Kim – Body Group, Research & Development Division
I joined Toyota in 2014 and the same year I started to participate in the TME charity project. As much as I am proud to work for Toyota, I am deeply proud of my colleague’s activities to help the local community.
In 2014 year we were preparing Christmas gifts for children in need and we wrapped about 50 boxes in technical centre and 200 boxes in our head office. Each box was personalised to a certain young person who had been identified by Serve the City, they contained toys, sweets, games and hygienic products. I was surprised to see the high response from TME employees towards the activity – people were bringing gifts every day, donating money and helping us to wrap the presents during their lunch times.
In 2015 I created many small activities in Technical Centre and as the result, the biggest attendance was during a home-made cake sale…. after all everybody likes cakes! J.
This year (2016) I hosted yoga classes at lunchtime and collected cash donations for the Project Noel. I was so happy to see that new people are participating in the project and hosting several events. I believe, the team spirit is built through such projects and great teamwork towards a common cause.
Paulina Januszewska – Quality Division
When we found out about Project Noel, as a photo club we wanted to contribute offering our time and photography skills in exchange for a financial donation to Serve the City. Within “T-Click”, TME photography club we organized a family photo-shoot at our reception, where families had their pictures taken, perfect to be used for Christmas cards etc. We had about 15 minutes per family and the last shoot involved getting a 95kg Saint Bernard dog to pose J. My colleague Dirk became a dog whisperer!
Due to its huge success and popularity we took up the same challenge this year and even extended our activities. There have been three projects organized by T-Click: family photo-shoot, business profile picture, which resulted in more than 150 members passed by to have their picture taken and a “Golden Ticket” raffle – the winning person will have a private photo-shoot with me in Leuven. This project connected us with the less fortunate people, to whom we could contribute, but also with our colleagues – we met their partners, kids and even their pets! This was also a great opportunity for us as photographers to gain some experience.
Dirk Christiaens – IT Division
T-Click received so many positive comments from all TME employees that we consider to organize the profile picture shoot as a service a few times per year. We appreciated the direct contact with Serve the City members and understand their organisation. This will drive our engagement for next year participation. And of course, I personally enjoyed being the DJ again for the second year at the Lexus charity party organized within the project.
Navid Shahangian – Powertrain Research, Powertrain Division
I remember it was during November when I was thinking about how I can reach out people in need and do something for them. So when I saw the Project Noel article on our Intranet portal I said to myself “that’s what I am looking for”.
Initially I was thinking of baking cakes but I realized that many people are doing that already and probably are far superior bakers than me! I had an idea to host a piano concert in my apartment.
I shared the idea with my friends & family, everyone was excited and fully supported me. The next step was planning, practicing and preparing my apartment for the concert – including warning my neighbors! The concerts were planned for two evenings in December. I had less than weeks to practice twelve pieces before the first concert which was pretty tight considering the level of difficulty of chosen music and my busy working schedule. I even involved my local church who were so kind to provide me with chairs for my guests.
I was touched by so many people’s generosity and willingness to help others that they do not even know or would probably never meet. I am now encouraging my friends and family members to get involved in the local community in which they live to make this world an even better place for us all.
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