September is a special month for Ford India. In making its commitment to a better world a reality, volunteers from over 14,000 men and women from across Ford operations in India will come together to celebrate Global Month of Caring this September. The month long campaign opens more opportunities for Ford employees to volunteer and broaden the company’s focus on community service.

Spreading their volunteer work across 40 projects, the Ford in India employees will contribute in areas of education, environmental sustainability, safety, health and humanitarian support, across Chennai, Sanand, Gurgaon and Coimbatore.

The caring month initiatives will also be supported by Ford dealership network across 186 cities across India.

As part of Global Caring Month, the core focus of volunteers in India will be on strengthening efforts on education and sustainability.

Marking the 10th anniversary of Ford Volunteer Corps – Ford’s international network of 30,000 volunteers, the signature Global Week of Caring this year has been expanded from a week in September to the entire month.

In Happy Schools roadmap on education programme, the month of September will see Ford volunteers undertake various fun-filled activities - including designing interactive curriculums and creating colourful educational aids - across schools. Additional activities such as Colour-thon, Science Attack and Quiz Hours on health and road safety across schools will be organized to encourage children to showcase their talent and build knowledge confidence.

Under Happy Schools, Ford partners with reputed NGOs to implement a social intervention model that addresses the gaps specific to each school. Aiming at 'holistic education', the Happy Schools program is currently implemented across 30 schools in Chennai and Sanand benefiting close to 4000 children.

Reiterating the company’s commitment to sustainability, Ford volunteers and dealerships across India will undertake tree sapling planting in areas close to their operations. In addition, the teams in Chennai will also undertaking a beach clean-up drive at the Injambakkam TVS Avenue Beach and the restoration of the Selvapuram lake in Coimbatore.

Helping local communities, the month will see medical camps for women and children and menstrual awareness campaigns for adolescent girls being organized.

Globally, Ford and Executive Chairman Bill Ford have launched the Bill Ford Better World Challenge, a global grant program that will award up to $500,000 to community service projects identified by company employees.