Toyota Mississippi wrapping up volunteer projects during idled production period
Sep. 22—BLUE SPRINGS — When Toyota Mississippi idled production nearly three weeks ago because of critical supply shortages, many of the plant's employees decided to do some volunteer work.
During the stretch, more than 650 employees participated in onsite community service projects.
This week's project, which wraps up Friday as production resumes on Monday, involved filling 900 bags for foster children in Mississippi Child Protective Services' Region I, which includes several counties in Northeast Mississippi.
Team members filled 500 "Sweet Cases" for children 10 and under and 400 "Teen Duffels" for the Together We Rise campaign.
Foster project hits home for Toyota Mississippi employee
The project hit home for Zak Phillips. He and his wife decided to foster a child a few years ago, then its siblings. They later adopted them all.
"Our kids, when they first came to us, had a bag, and when we got them all, our church sent a bag to each one do them," he said. "It was something for them, because they only came with the clothes on their back. That bag for them was something they could call theirs, and it's very meaningful."
Phillips' journey to fostering and then adoption began several years ago when his wife enrolled in beauty school, where she met several teachers and mentors who had foster children. Many of them visited at the school, and Phillips' wife wondered if foster parenting was something to consider for themselves.
Phillips was initially hesitant.
"I said, 'No way, this isn't for us," he said.
But after talking about it for about a month, Phillips' wife brought home one of the girls from work, and they kept her for the weekend. After a couple more weekends, the couple decided to get their license to foster, and the Phillips welcomed the young girl into their home.
After fostering the girl for a couple of years, the Phillips' welcomed her as a permanent addition to their family through adoption.
Then a couple years ago, the Phillips' got word the family fostering the brother and sister of their adopted daughter could no longer house them, returning the children to CPS.
The Phillips wanted to keep the three siblings together, so they adopted the brother and sister.
Again, Phillips said he was initially resistant to the idea. Adopting two additional children presented a big challenge.
"But then, we realized our reasons for saying 'no' were selfish reasons, and we made the decision to take both of them and keep the three together," Phillips said.
This Christmas will be the third for the family to be together. And when Toyota said it was going to host a volunteer project for foster children with Child Protective Services, he was more than happy to participate.
Resources for foster children a constant need
Cynthia Hill, an area coordinator with CPS in Lee County, said 529 children are currently in foster care in the region, 207 alone in Lee County.
"A lot of times, when we look to place children in foster care and we can't place them with family, we look for resource homes that are licensed and have to continue with education," she said. "Oftentimes, these children have little more than the clothes on their back, and while we look for homes, we look for items like toiletries, clothing and other things they need immediately."
Hill said the foster children are looking for and need things that give them comfort, and that the bags Toyota Mississippi volunteers were putting together for kids and teens fit that role perfectly.
"They're very much needed and very much appreciated," she told more than two dozen team members who were getting bags ready Wednesday morning.
Each of the project's "Sweet Cases" is a blue duffel bag stuffed with a blanket, teddy bear, crayons, coloring book and hygiene kit, while each "Teen Duffel " is a black duffel bag stuffed with a journal, blanket, deodorant, socks, water bottle, soap, wash cloths, hair combs and face wash.
The team members each add a custom design to the bags and sign them, giving an additional personal touch.
Idled production presents opportunity to support the community
Aaron Foster, group manager for Human Resources at the plant said opportunities to support the community have been a challenge during the surge in COVID.
"We can't go and do things, so we try to bring things to our house, and our external affairs team did a great job reaching out to a lot of our people we've worked with in the past and found the opportunities like we've had today," he said. "We were more than willing to support them."
During the nonproduction period, Toyota offered what it called Community Service Paid Time to its employees through the company giving program, Toyota 4 Good. CSPT gives employees the opportunity to volunteer with an eligible nonprofit during the workday and receive full pay.
Over seven days, employees averaged 2,240 combined volunteer hours.
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In addition to the bags for CPS, team members walked a cumulative 230 miles for Toyota's national American Heart Walk Challenge; assembled 50 backpacks for children in the Hispanic community served El Centro; built frames for Northeast Mississippi Habitat for Humanity; donated117 pints of blood to Vitalant; and filled 500 bags with hygiene items for Wear It Well.
