Toyota Donates Boots to Homeless Children
Walk In My Boots
Toyota Motor Sales, USA, through its “Walk In My Boots” community outreach project, stepped in to help area homeless women and children by providing new insulated boots — for the second year — to the residents of The Salvation Army Denby Center for Children and Family Services in Detroit on Saturday, January 12th.
The Denby Center currently offers shelter for up to 200 residents — primarily women and single mothers and their children — due to job loss, house fires, foreclosure or domestic violence.
Residents can remain in the shelter for up to 90 days. Toyota also gave a $10,000 donation to The Salvation Army of Metro Detroit enabling them to continue to provide refuge for children and families in times of crisis.
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“With the need greater than ever, we are blessed to have support from good corporate citizens like Toyota,” said Major Mark Anderson, general secretary and Metro Detroit area commander, The Salvation Army Eastern Michigan Division.
An estimated 95,000 Michigan residents were homeless in 2011; including 14,000 children under the age of 11. Over half (51%) were first-time homeless, and 28% of homeless families were the working poor.
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In Detroit alone, over 20,000 people were counted as homeless; and urban families were more likely to have a female head of household. Often homeless individuals do not have adequate clothing to fight the cold elements of a Michigan winter.
“At Toyota, we strive to assist the communities where we live and work,” said Michael Rouse, vice president, Philanthropy & Community Affairs, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.
In the picture above: Michael Rouse, vice president of Philanthropy and Community Affairs at Toyota Motor Sales, USA, and colleague Alva Mason, diversity manager at Toyota, help a young girl find a pair of new boots at Toyota’s “Walk In My Boots” community outreach project in Detroit.
