Social Awareness

General community support programs are initiated and supported by AAPL’s parent company YAZAKI Corporation. The direction from Japan can be summarized as follows:

Bushfire Appeal

Following the fire storm which ravaged Victoria on Saturday February 7th resulting in the loss of 209 lives and nearly 2000 properties, various appeals were launched to aid victims. AAPL raised money for the Victorian bushfire victims in cooperation with Myer. The response to the Bushfire Appeal for goods, clothes, toys, etc. from AAPL associates and likewise the general public has been overwhelming and the collection centres are having difficulty in collecting, processing and distributing all donations received.

We collected nine pallets of goods but would also like to once again thank all associates for their monetary donations which reached $2,263 plus the company contribution of $4,526. AAPL’s total donation of $6,789 was then matched dollar for dollar by Myer resulting in a cumulative donation of $13,578.

Naranga School Australian Arrow Industry Award

Naranga school is a Victorian Department of Education school for students who have mild intellectual disabilities located in Frankston. AAPL has been working closely with Naranga School on environmental activities in the past and has sponsored the school’s industry award in 2008 recognising senior students for their endeavours.

Frankston Susono Society

Ongoing support of all sister city activities including sponsorship, Japanese Fair, visitations, student travel, etc.

Salvation Army Christmas Appeal

It seemed a little early when we asked associates to give food and toys for the annual Salvation Army Christmas Appeal in November but this was due to the imminent shift to our new premises. We placed large cartons in both the inside and outside canteens marked Salvation Army Christmas Appeal ‘Food’ and ‘Toys’ and encouraged all associates to donate to this appeal to help those in our local community who find themselves less fortunate than ourselves at Christmas time. Toys had to be in reasonable condition and food within the ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ date. In previous years, when we have handed over goods collected, the Salvation Army representatives have given examples of where the donations are used and circumstances behind the hardships and all are worthy recipients of our donations.

Movember

The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men's health issues and donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue – the national depression initiative. Depression affects one in six men....most don't seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide. Last year in Australia 18,700 men were diagnosed with, and more than 2,900 died of, prostate cancer. AAPL raised $1,787.30 for this good cause.

Cultural Exchange with Samoa

During the months of July and August, Yazaki EDS Samoa & Australian Arrow have collectively had the great pleasure of both, being directly supported and hosting the Honourable Misa Telefoni Retzlaff –Deputy Prime Minister – Government of Samoa.

The first, was in Samoa where YES, under the guidance of Mr. Oliva Vaai and Mr. Karanita Petaia, hosted the July Chamber of Manufacturers meeting at the YES offices in early July. This meeting hosted some 12 – 15 local Samoan business leaders and representatives that were followed by a function supported by the Deputy Prime Minister and the reigning Miss Samoa. Mr. Ito was certainly an appreciated presence being invited to participate at the chamber meeting and present at the evening function. The honourable Misa Telefoni later visited Australia as part of a campaign to launch the new Samoan Travel Web site to the Australian & New Zealand travel and recreation organizations. On August 11th he was in Melbourne where he took time out of a very busy schedule to visit our AAPL Carrum Downs facility. During this visit, he engaged AAPL to personally review the current Australian Automotive market conditions with the AAPL management group and also inspect our local facilities and YES integration first hand.

The Deputy Prime minister invited Mr. K. Ito, Mr. T. Ikeda and Craig O’Donohue to the official launch of the new Samoan Travel Web site (where he graciously acknowledged the presence and support of the Yazaki organization operations in Samoa).

Samoan Book Drive

AAPL again collected books that were sent over to Samoa. The books were given to 3 remote primary schools as well as to the National Public Library.

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