Added on June 9, 2016  The News Wheel   , , , ,
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Ford Holds Latest Accelerated Action Day in Michigan

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Volunteers at Arbor Hospice in Saline, Michigan help build a native garden on Ford Accelerated Action Day

Volunteers at Arbor Hospice in Saline, Michigan, help build a native garden on Ford Accelerated Action Day

Thursday marks the latest Ford Accelerated Action Day, an event wherein approximately 700 Ford employees will volunteer their services across 49 distinct community service projects across the state of Michigan.

The various projects were created in conjunction with Ford’s nonprofit partners. A total of 20 nonprofit organizations will split a sum total of $55,000 in grants up to $5,000 a piece, provided by the Ford Motor Company Fund, to buy tools and materials necessary to complete the environmentally-themed projects.

The 20 organizations and their respective projects are as follows:

  • Alternatives for Girls (Detroit): Garden and landscape renovation
  • Arbor Hospice (Saline): Create a native garden at new residential hospice facility
  • Center for Exceptional Families (Dearborn): Create a sensory garden
  • Community Housing Network (Livonia): Landscaping enhancements at two group homes
  • Community Living Centers (Farmington): Clean yard and landscape group home
  • Community Opportunity Center (Garden City): Paint client apartments
  • Detroit Zoological Society (Detroit): Create Nature Play Area at Belle Isle Nature Zoo
  • Gilda’s Club (Royal Oak): Build a vertical garden
  • Gleaners Community Food Bank (Plymouth Township): Create a children’s garden
  • Henry Ford Estate (Dearborn): Native plantings and river walk reconstruction
  • International Wildlife Refuge Alliance (Monroe): Lake Erie shoreline clean up at Ford Marsh
  • Matthaei Botanical Gardens (Ann Arbor): Add boardwalk sections along Fleming Creek Trail
  • Metroparks Foundation (Brighton): Removal of invasive garlic mustard
  • Michigan Science Center (Detroit): Create a sustainable bioswale
  • Northville Community Foundation (Northville): Build an observation fence for Maybury farm visitors
  • Penrickton Center for Blind Children (Taylor): Build two wheelchair accessible picnic tables
  • Ruth Ellis Center (Detroit): Create native species garden and butterfly habitat
  • Southwest Solutions (Detroit): Create and enhance gardens at Escuela Avancemos Academy
  • Starfish Family Services (Inkster): Create grow & learn butterfly garden
  • University of Michigan Dearborn (Dearborn): Expansion of pollinator garden

Additionally, Ford Green IT will be working to collect old electronics—including computers, printers, and phones—for proper recycling. Ford Green IT collected and safely disposed of 75,000 pounds of e-waste in 2015 alone.

“Protecting our natural resources is a critical part of creating a better world,” said Janet Lawson, director, Ford Volunteer Corps. “We’re building and planting in sustainable ways and the e-waste recycling drive goes a step further to keep potentially hazardous electronics out of landfills.”