Jaclyn Vanodsol, center, director of development for Advocates for Children, reacts as she is presented with a giant check by Brett Wood, president and CEO of Toyota Material Handling North America, and Jennifer Rumsey, chair and CEO of Cummins Inc., during the annual Cummins/Toyota Giveback event at the United Way of Bartholomew County headquarters in Columbus on Monday. Vanosdol exclaimed that this was her first time being presented with a giant check.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Brett Wood on Monday gift-wrapped an idea for next year’s Toyota Material Handling of North America/Cummins Inc. holiday Give Back Event — one in which the firms donate a combined $20,000 to charity.
And the idea was this: In the name of inter-corporate and community warmth, he and Jennifer Rumsey perhaps would wear bright holiday sweaters for the informal 2024 December gathering that celebrates the work of United Way of Bartholomew County nonprofits and the importance of business generosity.
Wood, decked in a suit as he normally is, is president and chief executive officer at Toyota in Columbus. Rumsey, also in business attire, is president and chief executive officer at Cummins in Columbus.
No one seemed to need such added warmth Monday afternoon at the sixth such joint event. What the leaders figuratively wore seemed to be their heart on their sleeve at the United Way firehouse office headquarters on Thirteenth Street before nearly 25 people.
“Toyota’s founding principle, and one of our core values, is to be a good corporate citizen, wherever we are, wherever we work, and to contribute to society,” Wood said, tracing back the company concept more than a century.
The firm still allows employees two paid days in which they can volunteer in the community.
Rumsey, who last year warmly recalled years ago as a youth helping deliver Cheer Fund gifts to the struggling, echoed Wood’s words of corporate responsibility. And she highlighted current pressing global challenges ranging from continuing COVID to international unrest.
Then she directed her remarks to the nonprofit leaders.
“There are a lot of challenges in our world,” Rumsey said, “and it’s now more important than ever that we come together and really support organizations like yours that are working to make a positive difference in our community.”
Together, Toyota and Cummins donated a total of $5,000 each to four nonprofit United Way of Bartholomew County certified agencies:
- Advocates for Children — supporting court-appointed advocacy so every child who has experienced abuse or neglect can be safe and have a permanent home.
- Children Inc. — child care from infants to youth.
- Foundation for Youth — provides a broad range of programs for youth to promote healthy activity and personal growth.
- Mill Race Center — dedicated to enhancing the overall health, vitality and future of those who are 50 and older.
In an atmosphere that emphasized unity, Mark Stewart, United Way of Bartholomew County president, joined in on that theme.
“At the end of the day, community really matters,” Stewart said. “Working together as a community really matters. And working together as a community to help people reach their full potential really matters.”
Dan Mustard, only the third executive director of Mill Race Center, which formed as the state’s first such senior-focused organization in 1956, offered strong, Cummins-linked trivia in his remarks of gratitude for his organization’s receipt of its $5,000 gift.
Former longtime Cummins Engine Company executive J. Irwin Miller and other local leaders launched the Bartholomew County Retirement Research Foundation in 1956, which became Mill Race Center’s forerunner — and one of the first such organizations in the nation.
“Our mission is to not just add years to a person’s life, but as we say, we’re adding life to a person’s years,” Mustard said.
On the other end of the age spectrum was Chuck Kime, executive director of Foundation for Youth, among the largest and best-known of area nonprofits.
“What I would want to stress is that the things we do are to help prepare kids to have a bright future,” Kime said. “We’re really just finding the ways that we can connect (with them).”
