Toyota (GB) Announces Donations to Good Causes this Christmas

Toyota (GB) is making charitable donations to a number of deserving causes this Christmas, helping both national organisations and others local to its Surrey head office:

20 by 2020 and It’s a Magic Number
Toyota invited its UK retail partners to nominate an organisation in their community that is responding to the Covid-19 outbreak and making a difference to people who have been affected, as part of its 20 for 2020 campaign. Twenty charities were selected to receive a donation of £5,000 each, from across the country and in different sectors, including hospices, volunteer centres, homeless charities and theatre groups (see note to editors below for the full list).

Toyota similarly asked staff at its head office in Burgh Heath, Surrey, to nominate local charities to receive a £5,000 donation in the It’s a Magic Number campaign.  The chosen charities are the Firefly cancer support charity, Fountain Cancer Support Centre and The Change Foundation which helps vulnerable and disadvantaged people.

Laptops and tablets for Food Bank Digital Inclusion Programme
Toyota has supported the local Epsom and Ewell Food Bank by donating 30 cleaned, sanitised, and updated laptops and tablets for distribution to local schoolchildren who don’t have access to a computer at home.  The donations are part of the food bank’s digital inclusion programme which aims to reduce the number of school age children in East Surrey without a home computer to use for education, community engagement and their future.   The devices were delivered to a primary and a secondary school: Trinity School and Therfield School, in Leatherhead.

Christmas Gifts for the Children’s Trust, Tadworth
As part of Toyota’s long-standing relationship with the Children’s Trust, the UK’s leading charity for young people with brain injury and neuro-disability​, staff at Toyota’s Burgh Heath headquarters were invited to purchase a game or art and craft activity for children at the charity’s nearby Tadworth centre.

The charity provides residential rehabilitation and educational and therapeutic support for children with brain injury, many of whom have such severe injuries that even responding to light and sound is a challenge. Their situation has been worsened by the pandemic as they are classed as vulnerable and have had to undergo long periods of isolation.  Following the Toyota staff donations, several sacks containing around £600 worth of games and toys were delivered to the children at Tadworth.

Jane Wells, Senior Partnerships Manager for the Children’s Trust, Tadworth, commented: “The Children’s Trust would like to say a huge thank you to Toyota (GB) for their generosity this year. Thank you for helping us to make Christmas magical for the children who will be staying with us over the festive period, by kindly donating such lovely gifts for them.”

Guide Dogs
Toyota concluded its three-year partnership with Guide Dogs, announcing that it had raised a total of £302,517 for the charity, to help people with sight loss.

Tom Wright, CEO of Guide Dogs said: “We’d like to thank Toyota (GB) for an amazing partnership over the past three years, raising more than £300,000. We’ve achieved so much together – from employee volunteering and educational days, an awareness week and sponsoring puppies, through to a whole host of fund-raising events. The Toyota staff have been incredible, making a huge difference to helping people with sight loss.”

Chris Hayes, Toyota (GB) Director of People and Planning, said: “Corporate citizenship is an integral part of our Toyota culture and principles, which includes being active in our local community through charitable donations, financial support, provision of pro bono workshops or staff volunteering, and this is particularly important when times are hard. Our local community is not just the area around our head office in Epsom but throughout the UK via our centre network and we’d like to thank our staff and centre partners for supporting us across our range of charitable initiatives in such a difficult year.”

ENDS

 Note to Editors

 Charitable organisations receiving £5,000 in the Toyota (GB) 20 for 2020 Campaign