Employees Define Mazda’s Corporate Personality Through Stuff-A-Thon Volunteer Event

While it is true that Mazda is in the business of selling cars, Mazda as a brand is more than just an automotive manufacturer. Just as Mazda designs cars to defy the dictionary definition of an automobile, Mazda employees believe the company should provide opportunities for employees to make a real difference in their local communities.

At its core, Mazda is filled with leaders who believe they also have a great responsibility to give back to the communities in which they do business. To act on this belief, Mazda created the Mazda Foundation (USA), Inc., in 1992, and to compliment that, they created the Mazda Drive for Good corporate social responsibility program in 2013.

Since its inception, Mazda Foundation has been dedicated to building a better tomorrow through support of meaningful programs that make a difference. By combining the contribution of monetary giving with an opportunity for employees to physically contribute to the overall giving through the Mazda Drive for Good volunteer program, employees are able to dedicate portions of their work day to activities that matter to them.

In partnership with the Mazda Foundation, Mazda Drive for Good and My Stuff Bags, a national organization that has served local communities since 1998, Mazda employees recently hosted their second-annual “stuff-a-thon” event, where they packed and presented the 500,000^th My Stuff Bags duffle bag. The purpose of My Stuff Bags is to address some immediate physical and emotional needs of hundreds of thousands of children who are rescued from abuse, neglect and abandonment in the United States.

These children frequently enter foster care, crisis shelters, domestic violence and homeless shelters with nothing of their own. That’s where My Stuff Bags steps in—to provide these children with duffle bags filled with new donated items such as toys, toiletries, clothing, a stuffed animal and blanket, giving children comfort and hope and letting them know that lots of people care about them.

To-date, Mazda Foundation has donated one-half million dollars to My Stuff Bags Foundation, helping the organization reach the milestone of providing My Stuff Bags to one-half million children.

By working together as a team, My Stuff Bags, Mazda North American Operations and its employees work to provide a better environment for those in need in the communities in which they serve—bridging the gap between a company that is merely in the business to sell a product and a brand that can serve a purpose in the communities in which their customers live. Through the Mazda Foundation and Mazda Drive for Good, Mazda is able to support non-profit organizations like My Stuff Bags to make the community a better place. Providing proof that Mazda is more than just a car company.