Toyota Gives Back to Communities Big and Small

[Editor's Note: This is part of our six-part Toyota in Action series. See our previous blog articles]

When a company says they “give back to the community,” it sounds so cliché. Maybe it is cliché. But with Toyota, the only better way to say it is, “We give because we are a part of this community and we really care.” But that is a little too wordy to put on websites and brochures, so we’ll just say: Toyota is dedicated to community; your community, our community, the global community.

In this article, the second part of our six-part blog feature of Toyota in Action, the focus is Toyota’s involvement in community. “At Toyota, we strive to be a vehicle for change. That’s why we support programs throughout the U.S. focused on education, environment, and safety.” Toyota is driven by the old adage, “You can’t help everyone everywhere, but you can help someone somewhere,” and that is one of the foundations of Toyota’s community involvement.

Whether it’s building an orphanage in Haiti or building a school for to give children with autism a place to go where they can learn, Toyota empowers and encourages its local dealers to find their passion, their purpose and do what they can to make a difference. In the case of the two dealers featured in this touching video, one was drawn to help the orphans of Haiti and the other was driven to help other children like his son who struggle with autism. [LINK]

Locally, Burien Toyota gets involved with many different organizations. Whether it’s teaming up with the American Lung Association of Washington by sponsoring the first-annual Ride Around the Sound to raise funds and awareness for clean air programs and lung health, sponsoring a charity auction for the Evergreen Community Aquatic Center that provides low-cost swim lessons and a place of wholesome recreation for a low-income area, or continually working with local schools like St. Francis of Assisi, Burien Toyota is dedicated to giving back to our community.

In addition, we are pleased to be a sponsor of the Aviation High School benefit auction on November 3rd this year - spots are still available; click to find out ways you can help too.  Aviation High School is unique among Seattle area public and private high schools with a focus on Aviation and Aerospace within a project-based learning environment that prepares all students for college careers and citizenship.

“Why do we get involved and give back to organizations in Burien, White Center and other surrounding communities?” said Pat Dillon of Burien Toyota. “Because we live here, we work here, we know how important it is to have these programs. We are in a position to help a lot of organizations achieve their worthy goals and we try to help them when we can. It’s part of who we are as a part of Toyota. It’s who we are as Burien Toyota.”

• Toyota gives millions of dollars every year and initiates or supports hundreds of programs all across the United States. Here are a few highlights:

• Toyota has given $595 million to philanthropic organizations

• Through its “100 Cars for Good” program, Toyota gave away 100 cars to 100 non-profit organizations in 100 days; these cars helped children with cancer, deliver meals and more.

• 16,000 teens and parents have been served by Toyota’s free teen driving programs

One of Toyota’s biggest, and possibly most important undertakings, is its “Buckle Up for Life” program. Toyota teamed up with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center to create the “Buckle Up for Life” initiative “to address some of the multiple socio-economic, cultural and language barriers” in an effort to reverse the statistics of Hispanic and African-American children dying in car collisions. As stated in the video below, Hispanic and African-American children are three to four times more likely to die in car collisions because they are not properly restrained. Toyota and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center “have the same goals” and that vision is that everyone is safe while on the road.

In the cities where “Buckle Up for Life” is educating parents and guardians, the number of children using seat belts has TRIPLED and the program is rapidly expanding to other cities. Check out more about this life-saving program in this video.

Toyota also gives back to communities in the form of educational opportunities. In Mississippi, Toyota teamed up with the CREATE Foundation to launch “The Center for Professional Futures,” which could open in the fall of 2013. “This innovative, cross-county program will offer career “academies” for high school students in fields such as computer graphics and animation,  pre-engineering, architecture, legal studies, advanced manufacturing and health science technology.” Toyota knows that access to these programs will make a huge difference in the education and future of these students and their communities.

Toyota cares about the environment, too. It cares enough to plant one million trees in New York City. “Toyota is proud to be a lead sponsor of MillionTreesNYC, an initiative led by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City’s Parks & Recreation Department, and Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project (NYRP). The program’s ambitious goal is to plant one million new trees across the five boroughs by 2017. We’re happy to say we’re halfway there, with 500,000 trees already planted.”

Toyota gives back to all communities in the form of safety education, millions in philanthropic donations, and restoring the environment; we believe in getting involved locally and globally.For more about Toyota's community involvement, click here.  To find out more about Burien Toyota, please go to BurienToyota.com.