Ford grants program continues

The Ford Motor Company Conservation and environmental Grants program announced that Ford Asia Pacific marked the ninth year of the program's existence in Southeast Asia.

This year, a total of US$ 45,000 is available to individuals, community and non-profit groups that have projects currently running in the areas of natural environment preservation, environmental education and conservation engineering.

Future Automobiles (Pvt) Limited, dealer for Ford in Sri Lanka and subsidiary of Softlogic Holdings PLC has already received over 50 applications signifying the interest on environmental conservation among Sri Lanka.

"Henry Ford believed in the obligation of companies, not only to create good products for their customers, but also to share good works and goodwill," said DJ Simpson, Ford District Manager, Southeast Asia.

"And that is precisely what we are aiming to achieve with the Conservation and Environmental Grants as we give back to our local communities."

Since the global Grants program launched more than 10 years ago, Ford has awarded over US$ 2,000,000 in grants to more than 300 high-quality environmental projects throughout Asia Pacific, Caribbean, Central America, Middle East and Puerto Rico.

In Asia Pacific alone, Ford has played an integral role in advancing more than 60 environmental initiatives.

An independent panel of three jurors consisting of academics and experts from environmental agencies choose the winning projects each year.

Projects that demonstrate a well-defined sense of purpose, a commitment to maximizing available resources, and a reputation for meeting objectives and delivering planned program and services are preferred.

"Ford Motor Company's Conservation and Environmental Grants initiative is truly commendable," Future Automobiles (Pvt) Limited COO Sujeeva Premaratne said.

"Not only has it been consistently supporting local environmental initiatives for more than nine years, but it is a good example of how the private sector can play a vital part in encouraging and spreading environmental awareness among the communities," he said.