For more than 100 years, we have been helping the communities where we live and work through financial contributions and hands-on volunteerism. We’ve supported projects that benefit children, adults and families in need. We’ve created brighter futures for thousands of people by using our hands and our hearts. We build, plant, clean, feed, mentor and support causes great and small, enriching lives and showing we care. Across the United States and around the world, Ford and its employees are working to create a better living environment for people and the places they call home.
2007 Ford Volunteer Video Recap
In 2007 thousands of volunteers shared their time and talents to help the hungry, build homes, paint schools and shelters, and clean up local parks and waterways. Watch the video to the right to see some of the work the Ford Volunteer Corps team did in 2007 and learn about Ford’s MODEL Teams of dedicated employees.
Ford Volunteer Corps—Making the World a Better Place
At Ford Motor Company, we consider corporate responsibility a fundamental part of doing business. We strive to be a company that makes a difference in people’s lives—one that inspires our employees, delights our customers, rewards our shareholders and makes the world a better place.
Our dedication, goodwill and individual efforts to improve our communities were unified in 2005, when Bill Ford created the Ford Volunteer Corps (FVC) to respond to the Indian Ocean tsunami and subsequent disasters in the U.S and abroad. Today, FVC is comprised of employees and retirees across six continents. We support disaster relief initiatives and work to build stronger communities
Today, FVC recruits Ford employees and Ford retirees to support disaster relief and initiatives to help build stronger communities.
Ford volunteers participating in community-
building efforts that include disaster relief,
educational initiatives and fundraisers.
MODEL Teams Roll into Action
Ford volunteers participating in community-
building efforts that include disaster relief,
educational initiatives and fundraisers.
Teamwork is one of the ways we get things done at Ford Motor Company. In the Ford Volunteer Corps, we harness the energy, enthusiasm and know-how of our employees by forming MODEL Teams of volunteers who work together on community projects. These MODEL Teams maximize our efforts by organizing volunteers into units that can tackle projects that benefit our community partners and the people they serve.
Ford encourages salaried employees to take two workdays per year to volunteer at an approved nonprofit organization. In 2007, more than 34,000 salaried Ford employees donated some 86,000 volunteer hours on a wide variety of projects, from building homes for Habitat for Humanity to painting orphanages, organizing medical and dental clinics, raising funds for charities and mentoring young people.
Accelerated Action Days
Four times a year, large numbers of Ford volunteers answer the call to form MODEL Teams and take part in an Accelerated Action Day. These special days are focused on a specific theme, and concentrate hundreds of volunteers and dozens of MODEL Teams on seasonal projects in their communities:
• March 13 - Promises in Action: serving the needs of children
• May 22 - Better World: improving the environment
• September 11 - Safety and Shelter: community building
• November 26 - Giving and Sharing: helping those is need
In addition to the helping hands of volunteers, Ford provides grants to nonprofit agencies to help purchase supplies, materials and tools for the volunteers to complete their projects on Accelerated Action Days.
Global Week of Caring
We created Global Week of Caring to connect our employees around the world through volunteerism. During Global Week of Caring 2007, held September 3-11, nearly 14,000 employees from 6 continents worked on 210 projects. Global Week of Caring included recording readings for the blind, conducting clothing drives for disadvantaged women returning to work, helping raise money to provide insecticide-treated bed nets to combat malaria, collecting food items for donations to local food banks, helping senior citizens with meals, donating items, and organizing parasite, dental and medical examinations for those in need.
To learn more, visit the Ford Global Week of Caring website.
Lunch Buddies
Facilitated by Big Brothers Big Sisters, Ford volunteers experience the magic of mentoring as they spend the lunch hour with student “buddies” once a week. From helping with homework to group discussions about life, the Lunch Buddies program enriches the lives of both mentor and student.
Volunteer of the Month
The Ford Volunteer Corps recognizes extraordinary employees and retirees for their efforts. Recipients have included volunteers who cared for 22 foster children in Texas, created meals for homebound cancer and AIDS patients in New York, led a massive effort to combat leukemia and lymphoma in Canada and helped various nonprofits to care for people in need.
More Information
To learn more, visit the Ford Volunteer Corps website.
