TOYOTA THE RAIN MAKER

What started as a recent informal discussion between staff of Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) and service suppliers escalated in a matter of days to a massive water collection effort for the drought stricken Beaufort West area.

This initiative was completed today (14 December 2010) when a Hino 700 truck, loaded with the first load of 30 000 litres of water, arrived in Beaufort West. The water is transported in 5 litre bottles and strapped onto pallets for easy delivery.


“We were all touched by the images and news of the extreme drought that is affecting our fellow South Africans in Beaufort West and we soon decided that we would do something,” says Jenny Maré, General Manager: Corporate Affairs at TSAM.

According to Maré a further load of 8 000 litres would be delivered by Hino trucks on their regular distribution runs to various Toyota dealerships in the area. TSAM was supported by donations from Volition and Barloworld Logistics, two service suppliers to the company.

“We are fortunate that we have the widest representation in the country and our parts delivery team travels through the area every day. We will load the remaining water bottles, including extra water donated by our suppliers and staff on these delivery vehicles and it should reach Beaufort West before the end of the week,” says Maré.

The large Hino 700 left Johannesburg at 16h00 on Monday 13 December and arrived in Beaufort West before 10h00 on Tuesday 14 December.

The distribution of water will be supported by the staff at Toyota’s Beaufort West dealership, who have engaged with local authorities to expedite the delivery of the first load of water.

“At our dealership we stopped washing our vehicles more than a year ago to preserve water. This is in line with Toyota’s environmental policy. We are extremely thankful for the water delivered to our beautiful town and believe that this will help many households amidst this crippling drought,” says Arno Greyling, dealer principal at Beaufort West Toyota.

Although the ad hoc donation of 38 000 litres of water is TSAM’s response to a unique situation, it represents the heart of the company and its efforts to support the communities which has supported it over the past five decades.

In the weekend before the launching of Toyota’s water donation drive, TSAM’s employees loaded several Toyota vehicles with 200 gifts donated by staff for delivery to previously disadvantaged children.
The institutions that benefitted from this employee programme, called the Toyota Toy Story, are Acres of Love, Msawawa, Thuthuzela and Mantsedi. These institutions care for, amongst others, children with special needs, Aids orphans and abused and neglected children.

“We are very open to the needs of the community in general. Apart from the various development, schooling and upliftment projects we often support urgent needs. As an example we recently donated the use of two Hilux 4x4 bakkies to the Pilanesberg Nature Reserve to support their fight against rhino poaching,” says Maré.



STORY BY TOYOTA