Toyota Material Handling gives back

Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A. (TMHU), a leading forklift supplier, recently announced that as a result of its associate giving programs, a half-ton of food and goods will be donated to Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, along with food banks and philanthropies in the communities where Toyota associates live and work.

“Toyota associates in Columbus, Ind., and Irvine, Calif., have responded generously to our various corporate giving programs,” said Brett Wood, president of TMHU. “As a result, the donations raised will provide food and essentials to many in need this holiday season.”

Toyota has long supported associate giving programs, food bank and community-related contributions. At the beginning of 2010 in an effort to build associate morale and community support, the company created its “Denim for Dollars” program. Each month a national nonprofit organization is chosen to receive donations from TMHU’s associates. In exchange for a minimum $5 donation per participant, TMHU’s associates are eligible to wear jeans to work on the last Friday of the month. As a result of the year-long program, TMHU associates raised $4,000.

The benefiting charities include: American Red Cross: Haiti Relief and Development Effort, Habitat for Humanity, National Arbor Day Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, Homes for Our Troops, The Humane Society of the United States, Farm Aid, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Feeding America and the Make-a-Wish Foundation of America.

In addition to the “Denim for Dollars” program, TMHU held company-wide toy and food drives, which resulted in associates collecting 800 pounds of food to provide 613 meals to those in need at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, Calif., 338 pounds of food, equating to roughly 260 meals, and monetary donations to benefit the Love Chapel of Columbus, Ind., and nearly 100 toys to benefit Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

Also, continuing in the company tradition, in lieu of printing holiday cards, Toyota will make a donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, an organization that grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.