Toyota staff raise £45,000 for the MND Association

Toyota has donated more than £45,000 to the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association, since the start of the year.

Staff at Toyota (GB) and Toyota Financial Services have raised the funds through a variety of activities including a Three Peaks Challenge, cake and plant sales, and a restaurant wait-on service.

The activities are part of a three-year partnership between Toyota (GB), Toyota Financial Services, and the MND Association, to raise funds for the charity and to build awareness of the needs of people with motor neurone disease.

The Three Peaks Challenge undertaken by 10 Toyota placement students. This saw them attempt to climb the highest summits in Scotland, England and Wales:  Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, within a 24-hour period.

The students trekked through fog, rain, high winds, and even snow on the way to the summit of their first peak, Ben Nevis, and then scaled Scafell Pike in a fast two-hour climb.  Delays en route to Snowdonia meant they were up against the clock as they climbed to 50m below the summit of Snowdon, where adverse conditions meant that their guide decided for safety reasons to lead them back down the mountain.

Despite their disappointment in not being able to reach all three summits, the students were triumphant in raising £9,351.88 in sponsorship for the MND Association. This was doubled to £18,703.76 through Toyota fund-matching.

Toyota has also provided £25,000 to the charity for the development and marketing of the podcast series, MND Matters, which gives people affected by MND the chance to share their stories, as well as providing advice and support to anyone affected by the disease.

Further fund-raising activities organised by the students as part of the Three Peaks challenge included a student wait-on service in the staff restaurant at Toyota’s Burgh Heath headquarters, a ‘guess the number of Issho mascots in the Toyota Aygo X’ competition, and cake and plant sales, which raised more than £1,600.

Agustín Martín, Toyota (GB) president and managing director, said: “I want to congratulate our students on their epic Three Peaks Challenge, which they tackled with great spirit and determination, and I’d also like to thank our teams and their friends and family, who donated to our fund-raising activities so generously. 

“Together we’ve raised a sum of money that will really make a difference to the MND Association in supporting those affected by motor neurone disease – a condition for which there is currently no cure. We’re now planning activities for Motor Global MND Awareness Day on 21 June.”

A Bristol Street Motors sales executive raised almost £10,500 for charity after completing a gruelling 12-day trek through the Himalayan Mountains.

The 170-mile trek to Everest base camp is the latest in a series of fund-raising challenges tackled by the 36-year-old sales executive – part of the team at the Vertu Motors-owned car retailer’s Derby Seat dealership – and follows a sky dive and participation in the London Marathon a 100-mile bike ride.